.LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.* 




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OB, 



FRUIT FROM THE 



LIVING VINE. 



By REV. D. P. NEWTON, 

Author of ** Flaming Sword," ''The Golden Rule," " Pidures of 
SUveVf^' " Shining Lights" etc., etc 

.... 'M 



imW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY M. L. BYEN, 

No. 80 CEDAR STREET. 

1874. 



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Entered according to act of Congress, in the year ,873- by 

MARCUS L. BYRN, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



APPLES OF GOLD 

Friends of truth and love-^' Gv^ce unto you, aud peace 

l)e multiplied." ' . -, i i 

Forty years and more, our heart, and mind, and soul, 
l.ave been fixed vividly, indelibly, and increasmoly, on 
rearino- the tender thought— saving the " bttle folks f"^- 
the making every household a little Eden-a paradise, a 
lieaven below. Is there a newly-born babe, a sweet cherub, 
one of Heaven's choicest gifts, just now opening its beauti- 
ful eyes on a new world? What the watchword at this 
earl/ and critical moment ? " Life spiritual-life eternal- 
tlie'work of regeneration and sanctiiication on and on 
henceforth and forever?" Nothing short— delay not. 

*Save the little folks; train them for heaven as God requires^ 
What now? Salvation on salvation— gloiy ! glory!— peace on 
earth, good-will to man !" 



" A child is born. Now take the germ, and make 
A bud of moral beauty. Let the dews 
Of knowledge and the light of virtue, wake it 

In richest fragrance and in purest hues. 
For vu-tue leaves its sweets wherever tasted, 
And scattered truths are never, never wasted." 

EA^ery thought, word, look, act — every moving muscle 
of the parent or nurse — should be a sermon — li\nno-, per- 
petual, indelible. 

" Children are the heritage of the Lord. It is the 
Father's good pleasure to give them the kingdom. They 
are therefore to be ' brought to Christ" — trained for God — 
*broughtupin the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' 
To this end he intends the Christian family to he a school 
of Christ — to live in a holy atmosphere, in which the chil- 
dren shall be bathed and nurtured as in a divine, genial 
element. He would have these Mittle ones' ]>ut on the 
Lord Jesus Christ with the first garments of their child- 
hood, and drink in Christian sentiments (the atmosphere 
of heaven) from the mother's loving, beaming eyes, as thev 
hang upon the breast." 

This beautiful, glowing, soul-inspiring idea of training 
children to Christianity — the love of Jesus from the start* — 

* " From the start" — what do Ave mean by it ? Just what we hsne 
said, do say, keep on saying forever, that parents must begin where 
God begins, where he commands them to begin, at the thresliold 
ofJife, ere the little angei of a thing opens its eyes to behold the liglit 
of heaven, the beaming rays of the king of day. Begin the work of 
salvation and sanctiti cation then and there, forestalling the enemy, 
following on and on, step by step, day in day out, unremittinglv, full 
of grace, hope, joy, faith on faith, love on love, indefatigahly ,^ till tlie 
precious little godsend is established, rooted, and grounded in godly 
fear, love permanent, unquenchable, joy unspeakable and full oV 
glor}^ "From the start." We mean Jesus shall take full possession 
of the newly-born babe, rule and reign triumphant evermore, ere th;' 
old serpen t,*^ the devil, with his infernal crew, take up his abode and 
dwell there. Why should he ? what right has he ? Satan is a 



is expanded, spread out, turned over and over in this new 
book, viewed on every side in the light of Revelation. 
" To the law and the testimony." If we speak not in ac- 
cordance with the Holy Scriptures, it is because there is no 
light in US. 

In developing Christian nurture on gospel principles, we 
sought earnestly wisdom from above, that every article 
might be gold, most precious — " silver tried in a furnace 
of earth purified seven times" — gems of gold, bright, daz- 
zling, sparkling, blazing out — that fires heavenly, purifying, 
sanctifying, might be kindled in every family — tires on 
fires; fires for the big folks and fires for the little folks — 
that everything indeed from the beginning to the ending- 
might be, " Apples of gold in pictures of silver." * 

Furthermore, beloved, brevity is aimed at intensely and 
prayerfully in this entire volume — point, pith, condensation 
— life, spiritual, holy unction — things that cut to the quick, 
tell on the conscience, the heart, the life, time and eternity. 
We sought grace divine, heavenly light, in penning every 
article — beseechingly, that everything prosy, superficial, 
nonsensical, superfluous, sickly, or falsely charitable, might 
be excluded entirely and forever. In like manner also we 
prayed that the chafl:* might be sifted from the wheat ; 

usurper. The heart and life of every living, breathing immortal be- 
longs to Jesus — he has purchased it witii his life's blood. That 
Jesus is the wa}", the truth, and Ihe life, both for the great folks and the 
little folks, v\'e shall attempt to show, from the tirst page to the last, 
in this volume of " Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver." 

* This volume is not divided in two paits — 1st and 2d — but inter- 
mingled: First, a chapter for the big folks — then a chapter for the 
Uttle folks — " Apples of gold in pictures of silver,'' all the way 
through it. 

" A good book lives when you are dead ; 
Light on the darkened mind it sheds — 
It nurses the gems of holy trust, 
It wakes untired when vou are dust." 



the dross separated from the gold; and the essence, the 
cream, the marrow and fatness only of every subject might 
be given, and as much as possible of the good, the beauti- 
ful, the heavenly — of whatsoever is true, honest, just, pure, 
lovely, and of good report — might be compressed, squeezed 
into a nutshell, brought to a burning focus ! Little guns 
and small bullets, rightly directed, do great execution. 
How far we haA^e succeeded in this blessed, glorious woi-k, 
we leave our readers to judge. Anyhow, we do feel a dee|), 
abiding, heartfelt, humble, grateful assurance of the fact 
that God is in it, for the good of souls and His own gloiy. 

Beloved in the gospel — you perceive from the foregoing 
our aims and motives, and also that this new book is, al- 
most exclusively, "Aome ^/;or^"— domestic, educational — 
for teachers in every department, in the pulpit and out of 
it — for ministers and people, on week days and on Lord's 
day^s — for husbands and wives, parents and children, broth- 
ers and sisters. Every one, little and big, at home and 
abroad, in high life and in low life, receives his portion in 
due season, without any misgivings, any bowing to the 
popular conservative, or " conferring with flesh and blood." 

Go, " Apples of Grold," to distant lands — 
O'er this wide earth, sin cursed, swiftly speed. 

The work contains between four and five hundred pages, 
neatly executed, beautifully illustrated with more than one 
hundred engravings. 



APPLES OF GOLD 



IN 



PICTURES OF SILVER 




THE MAREIAGE RELATION". 

" Atid the Lard God said, It is not good that the man should he alone: I will make 
an helpmeet for him.''''— Gen. ii, 8. 

" Domestic happiness ! thou only bliss 
Of paradise that has survived the fall." 

Maeeiage is a divine and beautiful arrangement, as de- 
signed in God's providence ; it is the blending of two 
spirits into one. Man is incomplete without his wife ; he 
has strength, she has beauty. " It is not good that man 



8 THE MAKRIAGE EELATIOX. 

should be alone." " Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good 
thing.*' 

"The stream of pure and genuine love 
Derives its current fi'om above ; 
And earth a second Eden shows 
Where'er the healing water flows." 

" Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved 
the Church, and gave himself for it. So ought men to love 
their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, 
loveth himself." The duty of the husband and wife to 
each other is clearly laid down in the Bible. And, first of 
<dl^ it is their duty to love each other. 

This is indispensable. For the want of this there can be 
no compensation. A husband may provide for his wife a 
costly mansion, fine furniture, gorgeous apparel, and every 
delicacy that money can purchase ; but if he fail to love 
her, he totally fails in the most important duty he owes to 
one of his fellow-beings. 

The wife may see that her house is well kept and her 
husband cared for; but if she does not love him, she 
wrongs him and sins against God and her own soul. A 
man and woman, married to each other, have no right to 
live together merely as provider and housekeeper. They 
are to be more to each other than their nearest and dearest 
natural relations. " Therefore shall a man leave his father 
and his mother and shall cleave unto his Avife, and they 
shall be one flesh." " Let every man in particular so love 
his wife as himself; and the wife see that she reverence 
her husband." 

In the true wife the husband finds not aflfection only, 
but companionship — a companionship with which no other 
can compare. The family relation gives retirement with- 
out solitude, and society without the rough intrusion of 
the world. 



THE MAKKIAGE EELATIOX. 9 

What a luxury it is for a man to feel that in his house 
there is a true and affectionate being, in whose presence he 
may throw off restraint without danger to his dignity, he 
may confide without the fear of treachery, and be sick or 
unfortunate without being abandoned ! If, in the outward 
world, he grow weary of human selfishness, his heart can 
safely trust in one whose soul yearns for his happiness, and 
whose indulgence overlooks his defects. 

The assiduities of a faithful wife are so common, so 
various, so cheerful, so unexacting, that husbands are 
likely to regard their kindnesses as they do the sunlight 
and dews of heaven — matters of course, to be received 
without gratitude. But the constancy which makes them 
familiar, to a rightly constituted mind, deepens the obliga- 
tion. While the husband safely trusts in the companion 
of his years for his personal comforts, she has a right to 
expect that her beneficence shall be appreciated. If not, 
he will be likely to find her worth in her loss. Her ab- 
sence or death is, to the little world of home, like the loss 
of the glowing sun, which protects our earth from eternal 
darkness and frost. 

" Hail, woman, hail ! last formed in Eden's bowers, 
'Mid humming streams and fragrant-breathing flowers. 
Thou art, 'mid light and gloom— through good and ill, 
Creation's glorj'— man's chief blessing still !" 



Look upon each member of the family as one for whose 
happiness we are bound to watch as well as for our own. 
When any good happens to any one, rejoice at it. When 
inclined to give an angry answer, lift up the heart in 
prayer. 

1* 



10 

UNGODLY MARRIAGES. 

''- Beye not unequally ; 



This was the particular sin for which God drowned the 
old world. 

Some of Lot's daughters married in Sodom and perished 
in the overthrow. 

Both Ishmael and Esau married irreligiously, and were 
both rejected and turned persecutors. 

The first blasphemer that was stoned by God's command 
is marked as an offspring of one of these marriages. His 
mother had espoused an Egyptian. 

The first captivity of the Jews after their settlement in 
the Holy Land is ascribed to this cause. 

David married the daughter of Tolmai, king of Geshur, 
by whom he had one son, Absalom, the disgrace and curse 
of his family. The case of Solomon is a warning to all 
ages. His son, Rehoboara, that lost the ten tribes, sprang 
from one of these forbidden marriages. His mother was 
an Ammonitess. 

What was it that Ezra so grievously lamented and so 
sharply reproved? It was that the holy seed had mingled 
themselves with the people of the land. 

And what says the zealous reformer Nehemiah ? Their 
children spake half in the language of Ashdod, and could 
not speak in the Jews' speech, but according to the lan- 
guage of each people. "And I cursed them and smote 
certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made 
them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your sons to 
their daughters, or take their daughters unto your sons." 
" Now these things were our ensamples, to the intent that 
we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted." 



UXGODLY MARRIAGES. 11 

" Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers ; 
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteous- 
ness ? and what communion hath light with darkness ? 
and what concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what part 
hath he that believeth with an infidel ? And what agree- 
ment has the temple of God with idols ? for ye are the 
temple of the living God ; as God hath said, I will dwell 
in them and walk in them ; and I will be their God, and 
they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from 
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will 
receive you." 2 Cor. vi. 14-17. 

" Thrice happy they in pure delights 
Whom love with mutual bonds unites ; 
Unbroken by complaints or strife, 
And binding each to each for life." 



FATAL RESULTS QF OKE WRONG STEP. 

There is not a city, there is scarcely a township, which 
does not number among its inhabitants women who have 
married on very short acquaintance, only to be abused, 
deserted, and left a burden and a life-long sorrow to the 
families in which they were born and reared, and which 
they most imprudently and improperly deserted to share 
the fortunes of relative strangers. If young ladies would 
realize how grossly indelicate as well as culpably reckless 
such marriages appear in the eyes of the observing, they 
surely would forbear. 

Marriage is an undertaking in which no delay can be so 
hazardous as undue precipitation. 



12 



LEAPING m THE DARK— A WORD TO SINGLE LADIES. 

HOW TO MAKKT — HOW NOT TO MARRY. 

Maiden ladies, single ladies, beware how you leap, step 
foot. IsTever give your hands in wedlock's holy bands to 
one save God be with him — pure in heart, pure in life, soul, 
and body. Tell ? Certainly you can, if pure yourselves, 
God-fearing, and ask wisdom from above. Are you for 
Jesus unreservedly, walking in his footsteps in the light as 
he is in the light ? He will guide you — make duty plain, 
and not suffer you to leap in the dark or be ensnared. 

Backslidden professors, cold-hearted formalists, worldly- 
minded, having a name to live while dead, make sad mis- 
takes, stumble, plant thorns in their pillows for life, drink 
the bitter cup to its dregs ! Judgment awful ! Beware, 
sisters ! open your eyes ; keep them open. Look up ; open 
the big Book ; trust in God ! 

Marry for riches f Never. A woman's life consisteth 
not in the earthly things she possesses. 

Marry a fop — starched up, strutting about, dandy-like, 
in kid gloves, with cane, a dangling watch-chain, gold 
breastpin, and rings on his fingers? Beware of Satan's 
trap ! 

Marry a niggard — close-fisted, mean, and sordid ? Take 
care lest he stint you to death ! Escape for your life ! 

Marry a stranger — one whose character is not well 
tested and fully known to you? 'What! jump into the 
fire ! Many a foolish girl does this. " O ye simple, un- 
derstand wisdom : and, ye fools, be of an understanding 
heart." Prov. viii. 5. 

Marry a tippler^ or one who sips the wine-cup or brandy- 



LEAPIXG IN THE DARK. 13 

bottle — a tobacco-chewer, smoker, snuffer, or dipper ? Oh ! 
oh ! You die the death ! 

Marry an idler ^ lounger^ or loafer^ a mope, a drone, one 
that doles, drawls, draggles about, holds persor>s by the 
button to tell long yarns ? At your peril you do it ! Flee ! 
run ! RUN ! ! 

Again, never marry a man who is unkind or disrespect- 
ful to his mother or sister. His heart is black as jet! 
Beware of him, shun him ! Such treatment is a sure in- 
dication of meanness and wickedness. 

Never, on any account, marry a gambler, a profane 
person, one who in the least speaks lightly of God or 
religion. Such a man can never make a good husband. 

Never marry a sloven, a man who is negligent of his 
person or dress, and is filthy in his habits. The external 
appearance is an index to the heart. 

Shun the rake as a snake, a viper, a very demon. 



A GOOD HUSBAKD OR NONE. 

Better a thousand times remain single till threescore 
and ten, than make a bad choice, be wedded to a coarse, 
rough, clownish, morose, selfish, miserly husband — a- toper 
or a spendthrift. Oh, how sad to behold a lovely, intelli- 
gent, virtuous, amiable woman yoked to a dissipated, un- 
godly husband ! Awful ! 

Beloved, look out for thorny pillows. If we make a 
hard bed, we must expect to lie upon it. " Be not un- 
equally yoked." 



14 



THE MAERIED LIFE THE LIFE. 

" Home 1 go watch the faithful dove 
Sailing 'neath the heaven above us ; 
Home is where there's one to love — 
Home is where there's one to love us." 

Marriage is the mother of the world : it preserves na- 
tions, fills cities and churches, and peoples heaven. Like 
the industrious bee, it builds houses, forms societies and 
republics, sends out colonies, and blesses the world. It is 
one of the good institutions which God at first gave us. 
Even in Eden it was not good for man to be alone. Man 
was too complete, as at first made, to be entirely happy. 
He was independent without having any depending on him. 
He was not to be happy without having some one to care 
for ; so the Lord God took from him one of his own ribs, 
and out of it made him a wife. Thus it needs a wife to 
restore a man to completeness as such, and more especially 
to complete his happiness by having a wife to depend on 
him. 

"Two are better than one, because they have a good 
reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift 
up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falleth, 
for he hath not another to lift him up." 

" Oft as cloufls my path o'erspread ; 
Doubtful where lay steps should tread, 
She with judgment's steady ray 
Marks and smooths the better way." 

" Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as 
it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be 
not bitter against them." Col. iii. 18, 19. 




TRAIXIXG LITTLE FOLKS IN THE WAY THEY 
SHOULD GO. 

" Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give 

thee thy ivagesy—Es.. ii. 9. 

• Train vp a child in the icay he should go, and when he is old he iciU not depart 

from ity — Prov. xxil. 6. 

" The family is a little hook— 
The children are the leaves, 
The pareuts are the cover, that 
Protection, heauty gives." 

Whenever a babe is born into the world, the injunction 
of the Almighty comes to the father and mother, " Take 



16 TRAINIXG LITTLE FOLKS. 

this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy 
wages." Nurse the little one " for me," train it " for me." 
Educate it, subdue it, catechise it, transform it, mould it 
over "/b?' me." 

The w^ord " train," in the connection here used, is very 
emphatical and comprehensive. To "train a child in the 
way he should go," implies restraining, subduing, trans- 
forming, moulding over and over. 

And w^ho are the ones to be thus educated, trained up 
in the way they should go, moulded over into the heavenly ? 
The big folks or the little folks ? the rising youth, persons 
of mature age, or little children ? 

" Suffer little children," said Christ, " and forbid them 
not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven." Matt. xix. 14. Again : " Out of the mouth of 
babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise." Matt. 
xxi. 16. 

" JeBus loves the little children, 
Calls them to him day by day, 
Lays his hands on them iu blessings. 
Bids them always near him stay." 

" He will feed his flock like a shepherd ; he will gather 
the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom." 
Isa. xl. 1 1. But the way here spoken of, what is its pur- 
port, its implication ? Has ,the training here specified 
respect merely to outward habits of virtue ? the external 
deportment ? a training for future conversion ? Whence 
the idea that children may grow up in sin instead of grow- 
ing up in the Lord,* serve Satan some four, six, eight, or 



* When we speak of growing up in the Lord from early infancy, let no one sup- 
pose we deny the atonement, a change of heart through the Holy Ghost. " With- 
out the shedding of blood there is no remission." The only name given under 
heaven by which we can be saved is that of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who taketh 
away the sin of the world. " I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man com- 



TiRAINING LITTLE FOLKS. 17 

ten years before embracing tlie gospel, turning to the Lord 
with full purpose of heart ? Who that takes the Bible for 
his guide can believe for a moment that God ever intended 
the adversary of God and man should rule and reign in our 
little ones in the bloom of life, the flower of their being ? 
ihat their young and tender hearts should " become the 
habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage 
of every unclean and hateful bird." Mev. xviii. 2. Christ 
was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. In 
whom ? Let us not be deceived. 

God makes no distinction in the way of salvation be- 
tween little folks and great folks. What he tells great 
folks about the Bible, the way of life, about heaven, hell, 
death, judgment, and eternity, the very same he tells little 
folks. When the Lord commands great folks to be holy, 
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin and sinners, the 
very same he commands little folks. When he commands 
great folks to rejoice in the Lord, in like manner he com- 
mands little folks to rejoice. Hark ! here it is in Psalm 
cxlviii. : " Both young men and maidens, old men and 
children: Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his 
name alone is excellent ; his glory is above the earth and 
heaven." 

The false, delusive, soul-ruinous idea has gone forth ex- 
tensively, almost universally, that children may grow up 
in sin and rebellion against God, or at least spend much of 
the precious, golden season, the spring-time of life, in sin- 
ning — in forming habits of vice which tears of blood 
cannot eiface ! What is this but the stratagem of the 
devil, the liar from the beginning, the father of lies, to 

eth unto the Father but by me." Our aim is from first to last to sustain the idea 
that training a child " in the way he should go" is a holy training, and nothing 
short. 



18 TRAINIJS^G LITTLE FOLKS. 

further his hellish purpose, secure his prey, fill the re- 
gions of dark despair with weei^ing, wailings, and gnash- 
ings of teeth ? 

The way of training expressed in the text is unquestion- 
ably God's way — the way of truth, life, love, salvation 
eternal, life spiritual, life everlasting. And yet who takes 
this view of it ? What parent, what commentator or doc- 
tor of divinity believes this promise means what it means 
— that in every instance where the conditions of the pre- 
cepts are complied with the promised blessing is sure ? 

Will not children, trained from early infancy as God re- 
quires — in virtuous purity, the strait and narrow way that 
leadeth unto life — grow up exclusively Godward, and in no 
case depart from it? Parent, believest thou this? Teacher 
in Israel, dost thou ? " To the law and the testimony ; if 
we speak not according to this word it is because there is 
no light in us." "Heaven and earth shall pass away," 
saith the Lord, " but my word shall not pass away." Matt, 
xxiv. 35. 

Every blessing promised in the Holy Scriptures is based 
on conditions, either expressed or understood ; and when 
these conditions are complied Avith, is not the promised 
blessing sure in every instance ? Why should we make an 
exception in the promise touching household discipline? 
Surely no command in the Bible is more clearly or forcibly 
expressed than this : " Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
And what promise accompanying this command is more 
important, more blessed, more glorious? And yet who 
believes it, acts upon it, takes God at his word, trains his 
children in the way they should go, with the assurance 
they will not depart from it henceforth and forever? 
Where the faith, the fruits of this Bible-training ? Oh 



TIlAIXI^■G LITTLE FOLKS. . 19 

where ! If Christian parents believed the text, and were 
obedient thereunto, why do we see multitudes of children, 
which no man can number, growing up in sin and folly, 
impenitent, conscience-seared, harder than the nether mill- 
stone, in the broad road to ruin ? " Ye shall know them 
by their fruits." 



PAKENTAL FAITHFULNESS WILL SUEELY BE RE- 
WARDED. 

" Train up a child m the way he should go, and whenx he is old he will 
not depart from it.'" 

Such is the declaration of Him who established the re- 
lations of cause and effect, antecedent and consequent. It 
is during the dependent years of infancy, childhood, and 
youth that the character of the future man is foi'med. It 
was such training that led Washington, when a boy, to 
acknowledge a fault he had committed, and risk a father's 
displeas.ure rather than tell a lie. Such training has kept 
many a youth who had left the parental roof from the 
haunts of vice and dissipation. 

Let the child be early trained to submit to the will of 
the parent, and then to the will of God. 

Let children early be taught their relations to God and 
another world, as also the object and end of their existence. 
Sometimes Christian parents labor to adorn the bodies of 
their children, to polish their manners, to cultivate their 
tastes, enlarge their understandings, while they neglect to 
press upon their minds the obligation to remember their 
Creator in the days of their childhood. Their relation to 
God and the obligations growing out of those relations 
should be kept before the mind from infancy. 



20 

SALVATION NOW, SALVATION FOREVER. 

" It is the duty of every Christian parent living in com- 
munion with God to bring up his children so that they 
shall be Christians from the besfinnino^. 

The grace of God is given just as much during the pro- 
cess of education and unfolding, as afterward during the 
process of deliberate Abolition in adult life; yea, more 
abundantly. Yet how greatly is the work neglected ! 
You cannot, parent, bequeath to your children anything 
that shall be equal to a heart in alliance with God. It is 
very well to leave your child property ; it is very well to 
leave him an honored name. It is very well to see him well 
connected, affianced, and filling an honored place in society. 
Surround him with joys ; scatter gold mines under his 
feet ; span the crystal dome over his head ; send winged 
birds to sing for him of joy and peace. But you have done 
but little for him : he is but a bankrupt unless there is 
added to all these an abiding faith in the life to come, and 
an abiding trust that for him there is a place among the 
sons of God. All is for naught if it does not lead *him to 
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to live for the world to 
come and not for the world that now is. It is a very 
solemn thing to take God's children and attempt to rear 
them. But it is an awful thing to prevent them by bring- 
ing them up for this world and utterly forgetful of the 
world that is to come. We are making slow work in con- 
verting men ; we must begin at the other end. Let us 
begin now to take care of little children." 

" The speechless infant is most dear, 

To us more dear, 
Than many men full groAvn and wise 

And in Christ's eyes 
His little ones give purest joy 

Without alloy." 



21 




A PIOUS FATHER INSTRUCTING HIS SON IN WAYS OP 
WISDOM. 



BEATJTIPUX 1 BEAUTIFUL ! ! 



Young readers, is not this beautiful, exquisitely? — de- 
lightfully interesting ? What more so ? Look at it, listen, 
listen — hark ! " My son, forget not my law ; but let thine 
heart keep my commandments ; for length of days and 
long life and peace shall they add to thee. 

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee : bind them about 
thy neck; write them upon the tablets of thine heart : so 
that thou find favor and good understanding in the sight 
of God and man." Prov. iii. 1-4. 



22 



DUTY REQUIRED— DEMANDED, IN HOUSEHOLD DUTY. 

" Duty be thy polar star- 
Do the right, whatever betide." 

The duty of parents in moulding their little ones gos- 
pelly. Wherefore ? 

1. Because God requires it. When God speaks let the 
earth tremble ! It is a fearful thing to slight one of God's 
least commandments. " Whosoever shall break one of 
these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall 
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v. 19. 
" Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken, 
than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witch- 
craft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." 1 Sa7n. 
XXV. 22. 

2. To obey God in training our children " in the way 
they should go," is a safe way, and the only safe way. 
It is always safe to obey God. The path of duty is the 
path of safety. " If ye be willing and obedient ye shall 
eat the good of the land ; but if ye refuse and rebel ye shall 
be devoured by the sword ; for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it." Isa. xii. 19. 

3. This way of training indicated in the text is the right 
way ; it must be so, it cannot be otherwise, for God in 
infinite wisdom marked it out, set his seal to it. 

4. It is a perfect way. What ! expect children to be 
perfect ? Why not, beloved reader ? We have previously 
shown that God is no respecter of persons, that he makes 
no distinction in the way of salvation ; what he requires of 
great or adult sinners, he also requires of little sinners. 



DUTY EEQUIRED. 23 

" Whoso committeth sin is the servant of sin." " He that 
committeth sin is of the devil." 

We talk of holiness, the inner life, entire consecratedness 
of spirit, soul, and body to God's service, in those of advanced 
life — the duty of being dead to sin and alive to God through 
our Lord Jesus Christ ; this is Bible doctrine : " Be ye holy, 
for I am holy ;" " Without holiness no man shall see the 
Lord." But why not preach "holiness or perfect love" to 
the little folks, the duty of presenting their bodies a living 
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is their reasonable 
service, the abstaining from all appearance of evil?" 
What season more hopeful, joyful ? And this way of un- 
reserved consecration or holiness to the Lord" is the way 
spoken of in the text ; entire submission to God from the 
mother's womb. 

This way of training children " in the way they should 
go" is a highway of holiness. " A highway shall be there, 
and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness ; the 
unclean shall not pass over it ; but' it shall be for those : 
the wayfaring men, though fools shall not err therein." 
Isa. XXXV. 8. 

" To the little ones oifer flowers 
Of stainless beauty— let religion's glow 
Be holy on the yet unshadow'd brow. 
So shall thy spirit's loftier manhood be 
From passion's storm and guilt's wild darkness free : 
And visions of thine age, like tints of Eden, 
Bright with unutter'd bliss, melt into Heaven." 

This purifying, sanctifying, process should begin at the 
cradle, in the nursery, and followed up daily, prayerfully, 
with renewed consecration, until the heart is established in 
grace ; rooted and grounded in love. 




MOULDING THE LITTLE FOLKS GOSPELLY. 

Look, young readers, aint this beautiful? Here's an 
angel motJier inoiilding her little ones in the gospel mould. 
Blessed woman ! 

Seest thou a family of obedient children, sweet-tempered, 
orderly, kind, affectionate, active, industrious, " olive-plants 
around the table," lamb-like, the heau ideal of loveliness, 
the model of perfection ? How came they so ? Through 
whose moulding ? The mother's ? Yes ; the angelic 
mother. She wrought the fine needlework of gold, reared 
the tender thought, implanted the seeds of modest sim- 
plicity and purity, and watered them with her prayers as 
the dews of heaven. 



25 



TROUBLE SURE TO FOLLOW DISOBEDIENCE. 

"Let thy lambs we sought to feed, 

By thy hand be nourished ; 

Let them be thy lambs indeed, 

In thy bosom cherish'd." 

It is i?nportant to obey God in training our children in 
the loay they should go^ for if we do not, trouble and vexa- 
tion of spirit are sure to follow. This was especially true 
of Jacob, of David, and of Eli. Their greatest troubles 
and trials were of a domestic nature, arising from neglect 
of parental duty. Their ungodly sons and daughters were 
thorns in their sides and in their pillows ; and these family 
troubles and vexations followed them through life and 
brought down their gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. 
" A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her 
that bare him." Prov. xvii. 25. 

" Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child ; but the 
rod of correction shall drive it far from him." Prov. xxii. 
15. Jacob's profligate sons, whom he had neglected in 
early life, caused him more trouble than all his other 
troubles. " Simeon and Levi," said this too indulgent 
father, in holy vision, on his dying bed, " are brethren ; 
instruments of cruelty are in their habitation." What one 
thing caused David so much trouble and vexation of spirit 
in his family relations as his proud, ambitious, ungodly 
sons, toward whom he had indulged false tenderness ? It 
is said of his rebel son Adonijah, the usurper of the throne, 
that " his father had not displeased him at any time in say- 
ing. Why hast thou done so ?" 1 Kings, i. 16. Why did 
God visit Eli in wrath, cut short his days, send judgments 
terrible on his whole family and the natioil, that caused 

2 



26 TROUBLE SURE TO FOLLOW DISOBEDIENCE. 

every ear to tingle ? His sons loere vile and he restrained 
them not. 

The curse of God rested upon his whole house in conse- 
quence of disobedience in family culture. 

What parent, neglecting to obey God in family training, 
has not sipped the wormwood and the gall, drunk to the 
dregs the bitter cup of anguish, drenched his pillow nightly 
with scalding tears on account of proud, self-willed, disobe- 
dient, profligate sons and daughters, traitors, " heady, high- 
minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God ?" 

" The rod and reproof give wisdom : but a child left to 
himself bringeth his mother to shame." " Correct thy son, 
and he shall give thee rest, yea, shall give delight unto thy 
soul." 

Children left to themselves, not trained in the way they 
should go, are unhappy, miserable, wretched. They are not 
only sure to be unhappy themselves, but also sure to make 
others unhappy. " Even a child is known by his doings." 
One sinner destroyeth much good. " JEvil conimuniGations 
corrupt good manners.'^'' Were Jacob's children happy ? 
Eli's or David's, while in the service of Satan, disobeying 
their parents, indulging their carnal appetites and passions, 
given to lust, pride, ambition, and folly ? 

Instance the children also at Bethel, who mocked the 
holy prophet Elisha, saying, " Go up, thou bald head ; go 
up, thou bald head. And he turned and cursed them in 
the name of the Lord : and there came forth two she-bears 
out of the wood, and tore forty and two children of them." 
2 Kings^ ii. 23. Were these children happy, or did they 
make others happy? These are said to be " little children," 
and yet, by parental neglect, their cup of iniquity was full, 
running over. They were full of all subtlety, all mischief 
— children of tlie devil ! 



THE REWARDS OF OBEDIENCE EYE HATH NOT SEEN. 

. " The blessedness of this early training in obedience to 
the holy coininandrnentP Prov. xxii. 6. 

" Are there not beings by our side, 
As fair as angels are, 
As pure, as stainless as the forms 
That dwell beyond the star ? 

Yes ! there are angels of the earth. 

Pure, innocent, and mild, 
The angels of our hearts and homes. 

Each loved and loving child." 

This training children on Bible principles as God com- 
mands is a happy method, glorious, unspeakable ! It re- 
moves entirely the obstacles so frequently complained of 
by parents in household duty, the troubles and vexations 
arising from truancy in their children, their love for vain 
and fashionable society, their desires for unlawful pleasures 
and amusements, games of chance, the card-table, the gay 
party, the ball-room, the theatre and opera-house, the light, 
silly, nonsensical popular readings, idolatry in dress and 
equipage. " Train up a child in the way it should go," 
and all desire for evil associations, vain, foolish, and dissi- 
pating, the pride of fashion, the friendship of the world, 
things earthly, sensual, devilish, is destroyed, rooted out. 
The love of God takes possession of the soul — the affections 
are placed on things above, " where Christ sitteth at the 
right hand of God." 

Parents obeying God implicitly in family training in 
accordance with Bible precepts, are delivered entirely from 
the vexations, troubles, painful anxieties, bitter regrets, 



28 REWARDS OF OBEDIENCE. 

heart-rending tears of anguish, resulting from disobedient 
ungodly children, sons of Belial. Children trained from 
early infancy in the way they should go, in strict obedience 
to the holy precept, are sweet-tempered, mild, gentle, pa- 
tient, meek, loving, lamb-like, God-fearing. They hate sin 
in every form, pride, folly, self-will, and wicked compan- 
ions. They love the truth, the word of life, prayer and 
praise, the society of the blessed. The family circle, in- 
stead of being a little bedlam, disorder, and confusion, a 
charnel-house, is a little Eden, a paradise, the very gate of 
heaven ! 

" Oh, Heaven bless the little ones, 

The angels kindly given 
To cheer our weary pilgrimage, 

Since from an Eden driven : 
The flowerets by our wayside, 

To cheer ns as we go. 
And make the heart forget awhile 

The bitter spring of woe." 

The heart and life of the lambs of the flock trained in the 
way they should go are preoccupied in things morally 
and spiritually beautiful. The precepts of the Bible are 
pleasant, joyful, more precious than rubies, sweeter also 
than honey and the honey-comb. " The ways of wisdom" 
(to them) "are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are 
peace." A child trained strictly in accordance with Bible 
principles " in the way he should go," from early infancy, 
is measurably proof against the wiles of the devil, his em- 
issaries the contaminating influences around him. We 
see this fact remarkably verified in the lives of Moses, Sam- 
uel, John the Baptist, and Timothy. Where is there record- 
ed the slightest intimation of their ever departing from 
the first pure pi'inciples inculcated, though surrounded on 
every side with evil the most enticing and corrupting? 



29 

They went from strength to strength in Zion — rising higher 
and higher, shining brighter and brighter even unto the 
perfect day. 

Not an instance is recorded of their backsliding, of their 
prophesying smooth things, or bowing to popular opin- 
ion, a time-serving, man-fearing policy; they conferred 
not " with flesh and blood." They called no man master 
upon the earth. Their doctrine distilled like the dew of 
heaven, or as the rain upon the mown grass. They turned 
many to righteousness, therefore they are now shining as 
stars in the firmament of heaven. Though dead they yet 
speak, and will continue to speak forever and forever ! 

What but eternity can disclose fully the glorious results 
of obeying God in training children in the way they should 
go ? Parents, beloved, are you not stimulated by these 
glowing examples ? Are not your souls fired with the fire 
of holy emulation ? 

" Art thou a parent ? Then to thee are given 
Gems weighing more than all the stars of even, 
Guard thou the treasure with a sleepless eye, 
The Master watches from his throne on high. 
Fear thou no suffering, count no toil a cross : 
To lose thy jewels is eternal loss." 



RELIGION AT HOME. 

Religion begins in the family. One of the holiest 
sanctuaries on earth is home. The family altar is more 
venerable than any altar in a church built with hands. 
The education of the soul for eternity begins by the fire- 
side. The principle of love which is to be carried through 
the universe, is first unfolded in the family. " Let them 
learn first," says the apostle, " to show piety at home." 



30 




THE FAMILY GROUP. 

The family circle is God's blessed ordinance, and is the 
sweetest, the happiest, and the most hallowed spot on 
earth. It is the nursery of affection, of friendship, and of 
virtue. {See article on next page.) 



31 



HOME! SWEET HOME! 

" Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, 
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home," 

There is a magic power connected with the name of 
home that floods the mind with sad or pleasing thoughts, 
and thrills the soul with inexpressible emotions. 

How numerous the objects of interest around which the 
mind clusters ! Every countenance — father, mother, hus- 
band, wife, brothers, sisters, and children ; every room, 
picture, piece of furniture ; together with all the surround- 
ings — the gardens, walks, meadows, fields, and pastures ; 
the great rock, the mountain, the hill, and the murmuring 
stream, the cooling spring and old well with its wooden 
bucket, the stately elm and grand oak ; and there is the 
orchard, too, with its choice trees of peach, pear, cherry, 
apple, and plum. 

Put all these objects of fascination are changing. Pa- 
rents, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, and children die. 
Happy homes are broken up. Those who enjoy the solace 
of home to-day, may be tossed upon life's surging billows 
to-morrow, pilgrims and strangers, without friends or a 
home, sad, lonely, and dejected. Happy for such if they 
possess an unshaken evidence of their acceptance with 
Christ, that he has gone to prepare a mansion for them in 
glory. 

" A home in heaven, what a joyful thought !" 

Reader, have you a home in heaven ? Have you been 
laying up for yourself a treasure there, against the time 
when pleasures fade, when wealth and fame vanish, and 
when your poor body in the dust is laid ? 



32 



A WORD TO LITTLE FOLKS ABOUT SWEET HOME. 

" There is one spot upon the earth 
Far sweeter than the rest ; 
There is one spot we all must own, 
The brightest and the best." 

Little readers^ have you a home — pleasant, peaceful, 
happy ? Oh ! what a blessing ! Do you realize it — are 
you thankful for it? Multitudes of little folks have no 
place they can call home. Others, again, have a place of 
turmoil and wretchedness, poverty and ruin. But a home 
that is a home in very deed is a heaven on earth, a little 
paradise. Was there ever a word that fell more delight- 
fully on the ear than " Home^ sv^eet home V^ 

" What thronging memories come 1 
Again that little group have met 
Within the walls of home." 

No spot on earth has the charms like that of home. 
Friends may be kind and minister to our necessities, our 
physical wants may be cared for ; but still the heart longs 
for the sympathies of home. 

" But there's a home, a happy home, 
Where wayworn travellers meet." 

O glorious home, the home of heaven, the Christian's 
home, where sorrow and -sighing, sickness and death, and, 
best of all, sinning can never come. There the saints of 
God shall meet, and part no more forever. " There we 
shall see Jesus," and be like him, for we shall see him as 
he is. Though the weary-heart may find no resting-place 
on earth, " There's rest in heaven," when the toils and 
labors of earth are ended. 



33 



WINTER EVENINGS AT HOME. 

" Of all the spots that Heaven has bless'd, 

The dearest place is home : 
'Tis there the fond heart loves to rest, 

And never loves to roam : 
Whilst love plays round the smiling hearth, 
'Tis Heaven's ow^n bliss enjoyed on earth." 

We have not been accustomed to put sufficient value 
upon home as a school of education, or to avail ourselves 
of half its privileges. Friends, little and big, is not home 
the pleasantest spot on earth ? If it is not, where lies the 
fault? Have you not something to do with the matter? 
Set yourselves at once about the work of making it so. 
Be you father or mother, son or daughter, brother or sister, 
yoji are responsible in greater or less degree for the char- 
acter and influence of home. 

" Summer is gone ; the fair young flowers 
Have faded in their bloom, 
And the music of the fairy bow^ers 
Is hush'd 'mid winter's gloom. 

" Our summer life hath its winter too, 
And, 'mid its waning bloom. 
We wait that spring, whose fadeless hue 
E'er glows beyond the tomb." 

But however pleasant home may be, one does not wish 
to remain always there. Our sympathies and wants ex- 
tend beyond its beautiful and sacred, but narrow circle. 
Multitudes spend their evenings abroad. Where ? oh, 
where ! Shall we visit the ball-room, the theatre, the 
opera, the gay party, the fashionable concert, the haunts 
of dissipation, the frolic and the dance ? 



34 



OUR CHILDREN'S GOD— THE GOD OF OUR CHILDREN". 

THINK OF IT, PARENTS. 

Sow thy precious seed with care — 
He will grant a bounteous harvest, 
He will hear a mother's prayer, 

A CHILD is born. Another pilgrim of love has come in- 
to your hearts and homes. A new life has awoke, a life 
that shall last forever. Forever! the word floats to us 
heavily freighted on the sea of language. Forever ! the 
stars shall fail and fall away out of heaven, the sun shall 
burn itself to ashes and blackness, the harvest-moons shall 
dissolve to blood, the earth shall melt away with fervent 
heat, and the heavens shall rend and pass away like a riven 
scroll, but that new life shall live beyond sun and stars, 
through the ceaseless cycles of eternity. Something new 
is evoked, something undying. The feeble body that you 
carefully cherish is frail and mortal enough, a few days or 
years, or tens of years, and its limits will be reached. Its 
first roses may crown its death, or the almond-tree may 
blossom for it at fourscore years, and yet it is a little thing. 
The life of the body is short and feeble, the life of the soul 
is mighty and infinite. A child is born for ease or suffer- 
ing, or both, it matters little in this world, but it is born 
for eternal joy or woe — it matters, oh, how much ! This 
little space of life is the seed-time for eternal harvesting; 
the soul shall go white-robed and crowned to bind sheaves 
of eternal joys and endless thanksgivings, or blackened and 
branded amid wailings of endless despair. The little spirit 
will grow day by day as you train it ; the garden of the 
heart is before you to sow thorns and tares or the blessed 
gospel-seed. The plastic mind will be moulded by your 



36 



hand either into grace and beauty or hideous deformity. 
At that dread day this soul shall be your crown of rejoi- 
cing or shall shriek its curses into your appalled ear as it sees 
itself lost forever. 

Oh ! who is sufficient for these things ? One is efficient, 
and lo, He comes to help you. The Everlasting Father is 
ready to enter into covenant with you for your child ; Jesus 
is ready to mark it among his precious purchases. The 
Lord condesends to assist you. He has given you a sign 
and a promise, he has bound himself by a pledge and 
vouchsafed you a token. 

" Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will 
give thee thy wages." Ex. ii. 9. Dedicate your little one 
to the Lord as Hannah did — lend him forever. 

Be willing that He shall use your treasure for His own 
glory ; desire only that the child may live so as to do God 
service and inherit his rest. Bring your child to Jesus 
with joy, and exult in your wonderful privilege. Thank 
God for it every day, every time you look at the baby. 
Feel that God loves your child ; that he is ready to set it 
among the lambs of his flock. Remember the Saviour's 
tenderness for little children. Plead his covenant often in 
prayer; recall the happy hour when you brought your 
darling before the Holy One for a blessing. Follow this 
dedication wdth your earnest efforts ; pray with your little 
one and for it ; teach it to pray ; tell it of God's love and 
the solemn covenant for it ; let thoughts of God be asso- 
ciated with all around it ; with every good and beautiful 
thing, call up a thought of the Creator. Be faithful, and 
to such faithfulness you can only attain by earnest prayer 
and striving. If you faithfully fulfil your part of this cov- 
enant, is it possible that God will fail in His ? Will he 
invite you to bring your child to him and then refuse the 



36 

trust? Will he encourage you by many sweet and pre- 
cious promises only to disappoint you ? Never ! Be faith- 
ful in your part and God will be faithful in his. 

" Oh ! parent, is it possible you are not a Christian ? 
How fearful your responsibility ! "Will you train up your 
child for eternal despair ? Have pity on your little ones 
and on yourself; make your peace with God; entreat to 
be among his people, that in precept and in example you 
may be to your children what you should ; that you and 
your children may be his children, and that he may be 
your God and your children's God." 



RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS. 

Parents, God holds you accountable for the character 
of your children. You are to " give account in the day of 
judgment for what you do, or neglect to do, for the right 
formation of your children's characters. You may so edu- 
cate them, that, by the sanctifying grace of God, they will 
be the instruments of salvation to hundreds, yea, thou- 
sands ; and through your neglect of them, hundreds and 
thousands may be lost, and their blood be required at your 
hands. You cannot divest yourself of this responsibility. 
You must act under it, and meet it "in the judgment." 
Remember this with godly fear, and yet " encourage your- 
self in the Lord." If faithful in the closet, and in doing 
what you there acknowledge your duty, you will find sus- 
taining grace. And the thought will be delightful, as well 
as solemn, " I am permitted to train these children of mine 
to glorify God in the salvation of souls." 



37 







THE MOTHEE IMPARTING HEAVENLY WISDOM. 

Young friends^ do you obey your mother cheerfully, 
heartily ? 

" Come hither to thy mother, hoy, 
Obey her teachings well ; 
For they will come to soothe thy heart, 
When sorrows round thee swell. 

'•And when she's in her grass-grown grave. 
Hid from the light of day, 
Let not the world's deceitful wiles 
Sweep all thy faith away." 

{See article next page.) 



38 



THE WOMAN, THE WIFE, THE MOTHER, THE CHRISTIAN. 

" A woman's heart ! that gem divinely set 
In native gold— that peerless amulet, 
Which, firmly link'd to love's electric chain, 
Cements the world of transport 'and of pain." 

As a mother, what has she done ? What did the mother 
of Moses, of Samuel, of John the Baptist, of Timothy, of 
Doddridge, of Newton, of Wesley ? 

The man who has never had a mother to teach him may, 
perhaps, rise to piety by a natural impulse of his soul, 
grace abounding ; but there will always be wanting in his 
relations to his Creator that familiarity which forms the 
very foundation of love — he will not have known him as a 
child. 

Who was the instrument in the conversion of St. Augus- 
tine ? His mother. Who educated St. Chrysostom ? His 
mother. Who saved St. Basil ? His mother. Who sanc- 
tified St. Louis? His mother. Intrusted with the pre- 
cious balm of faith, as soon as a child was born to them, 
those Christian mothers left neither the cradle nor the bed, 
until they had poured, drop by drop, into its half-open 
mouth the pure milk of the gospel. From mothers sprung 
that race of martyrs, so noble and so gentle, blending the 
lion and the lamb ; it was mothers who created that army 
of crusaders, with breasts encased in steel, and hearts 
clothed on with charity. 

" A mother's love, how pure, 
How tender aud hoAV strong I 
How long it will endure ; 
How passive bear each wrong !" 



39 



XHE EIGHT SORT OF RELIGION FOR THE LITTLE 
FOLKS AS AVELL AS FOR THE GREAT FOLKS. 

Have you the right sort of religion, little friends ? Not 
unless it is Bible — Jesus Christ's — religion, transforming, 
purifying, sanctifying. To be the right sort it must be 
salvation throughout, spirit, soul, and body, making you 
whole every " whit," one new man in Christ Jesus. Old 
things must pass away, and behold, all things must become 
new. The religion of the right sort, the religion of Jesus, 
has a moulding influence, renovating, wonderful, glorious ! 
If Jesus Christ's religion is yours in very deed, you have 
been buried w^ith him, and are risen with him to newness 
of life, you will not engage henceforth in frivolity, in things 
trifling, nonsensical, " foolish talking or jesting," which 
are not convenient ; but " rather giving of thanks." 

Your delight will be in the law of the Lord, and in his 
law you will meditate day and night. The words of Jesus 
will be " sweeter to you than honey and the honey-comb." 
Furthermore, if your religion is the right kind— soul-saving 
— you will have faith working by love, humble trust in the 
Lord, a. spirit of prayer also. Your closet will be a con- 
stant resort, a little Bethel, next door to heaven. Your 
seasons for secret devotion will be regular, joyous, heart- 
felt, soul-kindling. Moreover, you will deny yourselves 
all ungodliness and worldly lusts ; live soberly, righteously, 
and godly day in^ day out ; keep your bodies under, bring 
them into entire subjection ; be "temperate in all things." 
• Another important item in the true religion is, it sets 
ever^^body at work going about doing good, imitating 
Jesus. 

Little friends, how is it ? Are you on the alert, wide^ 



40 THE EIGHT SORT OF KELIGIOX, ETC. 

awake, stretching every nerve in scattering the good seed ; 
in diffusing light, life, and salvation ? In a word, are your 
souls on fire for truth and love in every direction? * 

Is this setting the mark too high ? Not a particle, 
young readers. If you doubt it in the least, go to Jesus ; 
ask him ; look at his sermon on the mount ; turn to the 
epistles of Paul, Peter, James, and John. We repeat, tell 
you over and over, that God requires the very same relig- 
ion of the little folks that he does of the great folks. The 
religion that takes the great folks to heaven, the very same 
takes the little folks to heaven — nothing short. 

Turn to the article on the next page and you see what 
we mean exactly by the right sort of religion, and what* 
the Lord requires of the little folks as well as of the great 
folks. 



SAFETY IN THE LORD? NOWHERE ELSE. 

" There shall no evil come to thee ; nor shall the scourge 
come near thy dwelling. For he' hath given his angels 
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their 
hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou dash thy foot 
against a stone." Psalm xci. 

" Take heed that thou despise not one of these little 
ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven always 
see the face of my Father who is in heaven." Matt, xriii. 

" Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for 
them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" 
Heh. i. " Behold, I will send my angel, who shall go be- 
fore thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee 
into the place I have prepared. Take notice of him and 
hear his voice." Exodits^ xxiii. 



41 



THE LITTLE FOLKS DIE THE DEATH AS WELL AS 
THE BIG FOLKS. 

NO DIFFEEENCB WHATEVEK. WHY SHOULD THERE BE ? GOD MAKES NONE. 

" Know j^e not that so many of us as were baptized into Chiist Jesus were bap- 
tized iuto his death ?" — Bom. vi. 3. 

Are you dead, little Christian — dead to sin and alive to 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ ? The first thing is to 
die before we live. 

No one, little or big, can live as he ought, shine brightly, 
till dead and buried — dead with Christ, buried with him, 
and risen with' him to newness of life. Turn to Romans^ vi. 
4, and see for yourselves. Then read, also, the 5th, 6th, 
Vth, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th verses of the same 
chapter. Here it is clear as noonday. We have to die 
before we live to purpose. ^Vhat-^ pretend to live and 
glorify God in your bodies and spirits, and at the same 
time be in bondage to sin, under condemnation ? " O 
wretched man," said Paul, " who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ? I thank God through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." " If Christ be in you the body is dead because 
of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness." 

Paul died to sin, was crucified with Christ, that the body 
of sin might be destroyed — that henceforth he should not 
serve sin. 

" For he tliat is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be 
dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with 
him: knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, 
dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over him. 
For in that he -died, he died unto sin once ; but in that he 
liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also your- 
selves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore 



42 THE LllTLE FOLKS DIE THE DEATH, ETC. 

reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the 
lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instru- 
ments of unrighteousness unto sin : but yield yourselves 
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your 
members as instruments of righteousness unto God." — 
Rom. vi. 7-13. 

What more conclusive on dying the death and rising 
with Christ to newness of life ? Little Christian, is it not 
just as much your duty and privilege to die to sin and be 
made alive in Jesus as it was for Paul, or as it is for any of 
the big Christians ? Certainly it is. The Lord makes no 
distinction whatever between old Christians and young 
Christians, little or big. What the Lord requires of great 
folks, the very same he requires of the littlest of the little, 
where grace is proffered freely, light from heaven, the 
word and the testimony. " Without holiness no man shall 
see the Lord." And " without holiness" no little folks 
shall see the Lord. If Paul was crucified with Christ, so 
must we be crucified with Christ. Jesus was called Jesus, 
what for ? To save his people from their sins or in their 
sins? Look and. see — Matt. i. 21. Little Christians need 
to be washed clean in this open fountain for sin and un- 
cleanness, as much as those advanced in life. Children 
need clean hearts, holy hearts, sanctified hearts, perfect 
love, hearts of fire and tongues of fire, just as much, if not 
more, to glorify God, as the oldest and the biggest Chris- 
tians. 

Why should children born of the Spirit carry about the 
body of this death, the remains of a carnal heart, pride, 
covetousness, evil tempers, self-will, sins of omission and 
commission, of thought, word, and deed, any more than 
grown-up persons, men and women professing godliness ? 

The blood of Jesus Christ is just as efficacious in cleans- 



ETC. 43 

ing little hearts from all unrighteousness, making them 
pure, white, unspotted, free indeed and joyful, as it is in 
cleansing and making great hearts pure, holy, happy, and 
joyful, if so be the conditions of full salvation are complied 
with. If the little Christians obey God in all things ; sub- 
mit themselves wholly to his will ; present their bodies liv- 
ing sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is their 
reasonable service ; come out, entirely and forever, from 
the world, its fashions, follies, all sinful pleasure-seekings, 
and " touch not the unclean thing,'" the promise to them is 
certain — that God will be their father, and they his little 
sons and daughters. 

Glorious ! Sin shall have no more dominion over them, 
" for ye are not under the law but under grace." Then 
when all is on the altar Christ Jesus — time, talents, prop- 
erty, reputation, everything — God says himself, " I will be 
a father to you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters." — 
2 Cor. vi. 18. 

Now this promise, and all the great and precious promises 
by which we are made partakers of the divine nature, are 
just as applicable to the littlest Christian as they are to 
the greatest. Why not, then, little readers, embrace them 
heartily at once, give yourselves up now to be wholly the 
Lord's, henceforth 2indi forever f 

Look to Jesus now for this entire cleansing and purify- 
ing ? Unquestionably ; this very moment — delay not. Now 
is the accepted time ; Jesus is waiting with open arms to 
receive you. Take your impure hearts — the least and last 
remains of sin — to him forthwith, that you may be. clean, 
every " whit," through the blood of sprinkling, the word 
of his grace. " For by grace ye are saved—not of your- 
selves : it is the gift of God." " According to your faith 
be it unto you." 



44 THE LITTLE FOLKS DIE THE DEATH, ETC. 

N'ow, little Christians, "Rejoice evermore. Pray without 
ceasing. In everything give thanks : for this is the will 
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the 
Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things ; hold 
fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of 
evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; 
and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be 
preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will 
do it."— 1 Thes. v. 16-24. 



"BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." 

" As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all 
manner of conversation, because it is written : Be ye holy, 
for I am holy." " Set your affections on things above, not 
on things on the earth, for ye are dead and your life is 
hid with Christ in God," " Be blameless and harmless, 
the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked 
and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the 
world."— PAi7. ii. 15. 

" Let us therefore," says Paul, " as many as be perfect, 
be thus minded. ... Whereunto we have attained, 
let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them who 
walk so as ye have us for an ensample — for many walk, of 
whoni I have told you often, and now tell you even weep- 
ing, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." 

" 'Tis not a cause of small import 
A holy life demands, 
But what might fill an angel's heart, 
And flU'd the Saviour's hands." 



45 




WINNINa THE HEARTS OF LITTLE FOLKS. 



The heart of a child is easily won. Love begets love. 
Love children and they will love yon. Let children feel 
that you care for them, that yon are interested in all that 
interests them, that you sympathize with them in all their 
little sorrow^s, r-ejoice with them in all their little joys, 
that you are their friend, and you have the key to their 
hearts. Teachers do you wish to be loved by your pupils? 
Love them. Children read hearts intuitively. 



46 
LOVE IN A FAMILY. 

We have not half confidence enough in the power of 
love to disarm the violent and to reclaim the vicious. The 
fault begins in our families. 

Parents lose the confidence of their children, never to be 
regained, by injustice, selfishness, and the absence of love ! 
Love is the grand secret in domestic education. Give 
your children a genial, loving atmosphere in which to grow. 

Love precludes not decision or correction, but is prompt 
in the execution of both. 

Deal with your children as God deals with his. Do not 
meet their anger with your anger, their petulance with 
your own, or their obstinacy with wilfulness still greater. 
Overcome evil w^ith good. When God called himself a 
father, he chose a name which he designed to be significant 
of overflowing love, tender mercy, and long-continued for- 
bearance. 

"Parents, provoke not your children to wrath." 

What will not love do ? Who can describe its powerful, 
subduing influences ? Who ever accomplished anything 
by reproaches, or violence, or harsh measures ? You grat- 
ify a private and dark passion in your own heart, and 
arouse a darker one in another bosom. Oh, try the mighty 
efficacy of love. One smile of genuine sympathy is w^orth 
all your purse to the beggar. " Beloved, let us love one 
another ; for love is of God ; and every one that loveth is 
born of God, and knoweth God." 1 John, iii. V. 

Parents, commend your little ones whenever they do 
right, perform that which is good and praiseworthy. 
Whenever they are quick to obey cheerfully, express your 
grateful approbation ; tell them how well you are pleased, 
how exceedingly gratified you are at any improvement in 
well-doinor. 



47 



HINTS TO MINISTERS— TAl^KING TO LITTLE FOLKS. 

" 'Tis said that ever round our path 
The unseen angels stray." 

Beloved in the gospel, do you talk to children, little 
prattlers, innocent, beautiful, lamb-like — take them in your 
arms, give them a rosy kiss ? " Thanh God for little 
children^ 

When you meet the lambs of the flock, in doors or out, 
do you study to gain their good-will, their affections; labor 
to interest them in things lovely and of good report, things 
pertaining to the joys that await the blessed ? 

Smile upon a child — have you not won its heart ? Does 
it not smile in return ? Do not its eyes follow you ? Does 
not its face sadden as you disappear, and smile when you 
come again ? Does that smile cost you anything ? 

What parent will not love you if you show an interest 
in his child ? 

What church will not value the minister who thus wins 
the love and esteem of parent and child ? 

Will not " outsiders" come to see, and hear, and be con- 
verted under the minister who has first won the hearts of 
their children ? 

As a matter of fact and personal experience, did you 
ever know a preacher who paid no attention to the children 
to be truly popular ; or one that did, to be unpopular ? He 
who never notices children may be respected, feared, 
obeyed ; but is he truly loved ? 

"'Ministers dear, guard these jewels, , 

As sacred offerings meet, 
A wealth of household treasures 
To lay at Jesus' feet." 



48 



LITTLE DISCIPLE OF THE LORD JESUS. 

*' T\7iat doth the Lord reqvire of thee, but to do justly, mid to love mercy, and to 
walk humbly with thy GodV—WvcaiSx, vi. 

"Live not for self, oh, child of earth. 
Seek not thy good alone." 

" Let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about 
thy neck, write them on the table of thy heart." 

The young disciple, in the first movings of saving grace, 
the very moment he breathes the atmosphere of heaven, 
drinks at the well of living waters, enjoys the sweet, en- 
chanting smiles of pardoning mercy, is meek, mild, modest, 
humble, child-like, lamb-like, full of love, teachable. " Lord, 
what wilt thou have n?er do ?" is the overflowing response. 
He is obedient to the slightest intimation of duty and 
self-denial. 

Little readers, is this so of you ? Ministers of the true 
sanctuary, will you take these lambs of the flock ; carry 
them in the bosom of the fulness of the gospel ; post them 
on every Bible reform; equip them fully for the battle- 
field ; see their armor is kept bright and glittering, shining 
bris^hter and briofhter evermore ? Teach them how to 
read, sing, pray, preach, walk, live, glorify God in all 
things ; how to keep themselves unspotted from the world ? 
If these lambs wander from the fold, turn again to the 
beggarly elements, in whose skirt will blood be found? 
" The elders which are among you I exhort ; feed the 
flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight 
thereof" 

" Awake to better, nobler deeds, 
Attain to a holier life ; 
Let not thy ardent zeal be quench'd 
In the din of worldly strife." 



49 

FEEDING THE LAMBS. 

•' Feed my lambs, feed my , 



" The Shepherd sought his sheep, 
The Fathej- sought his child ; 
They folio w'd me o'er vale and hill, 
O'er deserts waste and wild." 

Do you, pastors, feed the lambs of the flock? How? 
With what kind of food — wholesome, nourishing, digesti- 
ble ; with the sincere, unadulterated milk of the word, that 
they may grow thereby ? The reason why so many lambs 
sicken and die is, the shepherds are not faithful, the kind 
of food necessary for health and growth is not adminis- 
tered. Likewise, many of them are suffered to wander 
from the fold, upon the dark mountains of sin and error ; 
they sicken, they die, they perish. 

It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that 
one of these little ones should perish. The good Shepherd 
watches over his flock by day and by night, and if a single 
lamb wanders from the fold, into by-paths or quagmires, he 
is off", off instantly^ in search of the lost one. Nor does 
he rest till it is safely in the fold — the bosom of love. 

^'- Feed my lamhs.'''' 

How gfeat the love of the good Shepherd for the sheep ! 
Not only a life of toil, but a cruel death bears witness to 
his love. When about to ascend, to a chosen apostle he 
addresses the question, "Lovest thou me?" Then to an 
affirmative answer responds, " Feed my sheep ;" thus show- 
ing that the work of the preacher was a work of love, and 
that the great and controlling motive-power in this work 
was love to the Master. It was this that prompted the 
early disciples to endure great hardships and privations, 
and enabled them to rejoice that they were sufiering for 
Christ's sake. 

3 




THE MOTHER'S FIRST BORK 

"Lids like snow-flakes, dropped above ; 
Eyes like summer blossom ; 
Lips a rosebud, made for love ; 
Dimpled cheek and bosom." 

Mother, what will you do with this sweet little God- 
send ? Take it to Jesus now ? " Too little," s^y you ? 
No, it aint ; now's the time — the precious, all-important. 
The very moment a child opens its eyes, beholds the 
spangled heavens, hears nature's voice, its character is 
forming for time, for eternity : every thought, look, word, 
smile, or frown goes to fill up. Is the atmosphere pure 
and holy, it inhales it ; is it corrupt, morally contaminated, 
it breathes it, drinks it in. Every inch of time at this 
early period is invaluable. The habits are forming for 
realms of light and glory, or woe interminable, inhnite. 
A child's time is more precious than gold ; every moment 
should be made to count — it will count, avoid it you can- 
not. As soon stay the revolving moon or hush the roaring, 
bellowing tide. Educate your child, or Satan will. 



51 

HOW EARLY SAVE THE LITTLE FOLKS? 

Just as early, parents, as you take them to Jesus, iu 
faith presenting them and yourselves living sacrifices, holy 
and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 
Jesus always stands ready with open arms to receive 
them. 

The heathen mother takes her babe to the idol temple, 
and teaches it to clasp its little hands before its forehead in 
the attitude of prayer, long before it can utter a word. 
As soon as it can walk it is taught to gather a few flowers 
or fruits, or put a little rice upon a banana-leaf, and lay 
them upon the altar before the idol. As soon as it can utter 
the names of its parents, so soon it is taught to offer up its 
petitions before the images. Who ever saw a heathen 
child that could speak, and not pray ? Christian mothers, 
why is it that so many children grow up in this enlightened 
land without learning to pray in the spirit, in the name of 
Jesus ! 



Parents, look at such promises as this : " I will pour 
my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine off- 
spring ; and they shall spring up as among the grass, and 
as rivers by the water-courses. One shall say, I am the 
Lord's ; and another shall call himself by the name of 
Jacob ; and another shall subscribe with his hand, and 
shall surname himself by the name of Israel." The history 
of some families is a delightful fulfilment of this promise. 
Young hearts are the best in which to lay, deep and broad, 
the foundations of usefulness. There is no hope that your 
child will do anything for Christ till you can see him at 
the foot of the cross, repenting, believing, devoting himself 
wholly to the Lord. 



52 



THE GOOD SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEP AND OF 
THE LAMBS. 

" Jesus loves a little child ; 
He was lowly, meek, and mild." 

How sweet it is, dear children, to be a little one whom 
Jesus loves, and how happy must those little ones be that 
know his love and prize it ! How happy a thing it would 
be, if every little one were a lamb of the great and good 
Shepherd! And why should it not be so? Each one is 
invited to come to Jesus. If you would be happy, come to 
this great and loving Shepherd, who carries the lambs in 
his arms. Seek now your Saviour in the days of your, 
childhood ; you will then be happy for life and prepared 
for death. This would not be the mere delight of the 
moment, as your pleasures now are ; it would be eternal 
happiness, eternal joy. 

Will you not come to the good Shepherd? He loves the 
lambs as well as the sheep of his flock. He is the door as 
well as the shepherd. Hear what he says : " I am the 
door of the sheep ; by me if any man enter in, he shall be 
saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." Blessed 
Jesus, draw the little ones to thyself! 

" Jesus from heaven came down to die 
For little children young as I ; 
So great his love, his life he gave. 
Our guilty souls from hell to save. 

" Oh, may I love and praise his name, 
Who once for me a child became : 
Help me, O Lord, thy will to do ; 
My sins forgive, my heart renew." 



" He will feed his flock like a shepherd : he will gather 
the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom." 



53 




EARLY PIETY: THE BUD BLOSSOMING.— NO. 1. 



DIALOGUE BETWEEN GAnjS AND CRISPUS. 



Crispiis. — 

" I saw a lovely boy 

Kneel down beside a chair, 
Then place his head upon his hands 

And sweetly lisp a prayer. 
A lovelier sight was ne'er beheld — 

No mock'ry was his part — 
That infant form, thus bent in prayer. 
Might shame an older heart. 

" And there he knelt, nor moved he then, 

Nor turn'd his little head, 
Till all his prayer was iinish'd, 

The last — last Avord was said. 
I gazed entranced upon the child, 

So artless, young, and pure. 
And fondly wish'd his little form 

Might long with us endure." 



54 EAELY PIETY. 

Gains. Beautiful ! beautiful ! ecstatically ! What more 
lovely than a little child, obedient, mild, gentle as the Lamb 
of God ? But how train him thus, bring him up ? 

C. How do you live, brother Gains, breathe, eat, sleep ? 
God himself reveals the secret — the wayfaring men, though 
fools, need not err. It is clock-work ; done by rule, square, 
and compass. Step one step, and the next and the next — 
light dawns, hope dawns. Walk by faith, go forward. 

G. Specify, if you please, brother. 

C. Subdue the will — at once, now, the instant the least 
spark of evil enkindles! Keep subduing it — it must be 
done by mildness and gentleness if possible ; but be sure 
and do it — put out the fire ! The will is the lever that 
moves the universe. 

Lay the foundation deep. " Work well done is twice 
done." " Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let 
not thy soul spare for his crying." " He that spareth the 
rod hateth his son ; but he that loveth him, chasteneth him 
betimes." Place the finger on the spot of the leprosy 
instantly. 

G. Is not this omission the rock on which many a vessel 
is wrecked ? 

C. Shivered! dashed to atoms! Why is hell peopled 
at all? Guess? The indomitable, unsubdued, incorrigible 
will ! Submit to God, when never taught to submit to the 
parent ? How can it, how icill it ? Picture heaven glow- 
ingly ; shake this stubborn child or youth over the burn- 
ing flames of damnation---even with the mighty strivings 
of God's Holy Spirit — and still the young rebel squirms, 
and kicks rebellion ! 

Think you, dear Gains, the blood of this soul will not be 
required of that parent who, from false tenderness, or any 
cause, failed to correct him, duly and timely ? 



EARLY PIETY. 55 

G. Thought momentous ! Kather perish the day in 
which the child was born, or be a hidden, untimely birth. 

C. When the fond mother bringeth her first-born into 
the world, let her pause — st02^ as on the brink of eternity — 
ask herself, shall this sweet little one, so precious, so very 
dear to my soul, dwell with devils and spirits damned! or 
be a seraph, pure, washed in the blood of the Lamb, tuning 
his golden harp around God's holy IhroxiQ forever ? 

The keys of life and of death are deposited in the hands 
of mothers. Obey God in household duty, and the soul is 
saved, made an angel ; disobey, and it becomes a devil in- 
carnate, a spirit lost!* In our next interview, beloved 
Gains, I propose, the Lord helping, to show minutely the 
why's and the wherefore's. 



PARENTS INEXCUSABLE. 

Let those parents who would continue to excuse them- 
selves by observing, " We cannot give grace to our chil- 
dren," laj^ their hand on their heart and say whether they 
ever knew an instance where God withheld his grace while 
they were in humble subserviency to him, fulfilling their 
duty. The real state of the case is — parents cannot do 
God's work, and God will not do theirs ; but if they 
obey him, use the means, will he ever withhold his bless- 
ing? _ 



* We lay peculiar stress on the duty of the mother. By her, the first and deep- 
est impressions are made. But is the father's responsibility less momentous ? 
Each is involved. Parents must be united perfectly in discipline; not a jarring 
sound must be. not a breath of discord. 



56 
EARLY PIETY : THE BUD BLOSSOMING.— NO. 2. 

CKISPUS AND GAIUS. 

Crispus. — 

" I want to be an angel," said a child, 
As on his mother's face he look'd and smiled. 

" What means my son ?" the mother mildly said ; 
And the young child reclined his little head ; 
Whispering once more, in sorrowful reply, 

" I want to be an angel — and to die !" 

" And why, my darling ?" — " Because heaven is there ; 
High up beyond those stars, so pure and fair. 
Where angels live and love God, who gave 
His Word to comfort and his Son to save." 
The mother called him to her knee and wept — 
Wept with the child, and he sank down and slept 
Upon her bosom ; then she meekly rose 
And took him to his chamber's calm rej^ose. 
She knelt and pray'd such prayers as mothers pray. 
That God would guide him through life's stormy way ; 
That he might give his heart to God, and stand 
Forever g^aziuQ- toward the blessed land." 

Gains. Brother Crispus, your theory is admirable, soul- 
cheering. Carry out the idea in punctilious form — salva- 
tion streams I and very soon the deserts blossom as the 
rose, the little hills skip and dance, and all the trees of the 
field clap their hands joyfully ! But why enchant with 
scenes merely ideal ? Why picture golden crowns that 
are never to grace our heads ? What ! bring a clean thing 
from an unclean? Why, Crispus, children are conceived 
in sin, shapen in iniquity ; their little hearts are bound up 
in foolishness ; they go astray, speaking lies, as soon as 



EARLY PIETY. 57 

born. Besides, the very atmosphere inhaled is malaria ! 
Transform these at an early day, and keep them trans- 
forined? Make them sweet, docile, lamb-like? If the 
Lord make windows in heaven and pour down salvation, 
then I belieA^e it, not till then. 

C. Face God with a lie f Dare you ? No commands or 
promises are more decisively positive than those touching 
this very point. Does God say emphatically, covet not, 
lie not, steal not, swear not ? What else ? " Train up 
a child in the way he should go, and when he is old lie will 
not depart from it." 

Believe the first and deny the last ! 

G. Let example speak. Has one, even one^ toed the 
mark everf Place your finger here, I yield. 

C. Fine logic, truly. Everybody has done foolishly and 
wickedly, nobody has done right ; therefore it is right that 
nobody does right, and that nobody ever will do right ! 
The premise is false, the conclusion /«/5e ! 

Has God left himself without witness ? Go back to an- 
cient days. What saith he of Abraham? ^''Iknow him, 
that he will command his children and his household after 
him, and he shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice 
and judgment." Yes ; God knew him, and that his house 
would be a house of order, and blessed him accordingly. 
Is not this a case in point ? 

G. Another instance, if you please, brother. 

C. Little Samuel, sweet cherub ! My soul leaps joyfully 
at the very naming of the little fellow. Dedicated to God 
ere embryo formation. 

Hannah, his sainted mother, recalled not the solemn vow? 
Hear her : " I have lent him to the Lord as long as he 
liveth." Forever f Glorious ! Let every mother do thus, 
hell-gate is closed, barred ; earth is heaven. But alas I 



58 EAKLT PIETY. 

many religious parents vow and pay not ; suffer their off- 
spring to grow up as the wild ass's colt, a curse to them- 
selves, a curse to the neighborhood, a curse to the world ! 
A hitter curse ! Perjury ? What else ? 

G. Proceed, Crispus. My soul is wrapped in admiration 
profound. 

C. Follow the stream of time ; prepare your golden 
harp ; tune it afresh ; touch chords heavenly. Did not 
angels at the birth of King Enianuel ? But stop ; not so 
fast. Who were Zacharias and Elizabeth? What did 
they do ? Walked " in all the commandments of the Lord 
blameless." Not in one or two of them merely, but in all^ 
including parental discipline. How did they train their 
first, their only-begotten, whom the angel of God named 
" John ?" His after-life speaks it. From his very hirth 
the Holy Spirit took possession of his precious little soul ! 
Call this miraculous ? Call it what you please ; God is 
ever faithful to his promise. 

G, Can you specify other cases ? 

C. Timothy ! What name sounds more sweetly harmo- 
nious ? Who transformed his soul early ; steeped him in 
God's ritual ; grasped every shred of holy inspiration ; ap- 
plied it, watered it with prayer as the dew of heaven ? 
Who was it ? Guess. Yes ; little Timothy was modelled, 
remodelled from dawning infancy ; trained up, catechised 
in the pure principles of God's own word. 2 Thn. iii. 15. 
By these daily and hourly inculcations, followed by prayer, 
ardent with holy example, God's spirit meanwhile accom 
panying, his little soul was sanctified — transformed into 
the very image of God's most holy. 

Did this little lamp burn feebly for a season and then 
expire ? Xay ; the promise was realized, amply. The fire 
kindled, burned brighter and brighter — blazed refulgently 



EARLY PIETY. 59 

— lighted other fires, till the whole apostolic world was 
illuminated I This example is for us^ for all time future. 
And who knows, beloved Gaius* what multitudes have 
been stimulated by these holy examples, and walked in the 
same steps ? 

G^ Crispus dear, will you allow a single digression? 
How is this, pray ? Under the Jewish theocracy, it seems, 
education, so far as pure simplicity and godly fear are con- 
cerned, was far in advance of modern refinement. Will 
you divine ? 

C. Clear as the sun's beaming rays. The Bible, sir, the 
Bible, so much of it as then icas y the Bible, every shred 
of holy writ^ was eaten up. Going out, coming in, rising 
up, lying down ; the sacred elements were made to ring in 
every ear. Yes, their Yerj frontlets were marked indelibly 
with inscriptions pure. 

Now how is it? Alas! what reckless indifierence, what 
criminal ignorance of the word and the life, purchased at 
the price of blood ! 

" 'Tis truth that binds, and truth makes free, 
And sets the soul at liberty 
From sin and Satan's heavy chain, 
And then within the heart doth reign." 



THE CAPABILITY OF THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

There is no doctrine of the word of God which a child, 
if he is capable of salvation, is not capable of receiving. 
Teach children all the great doctrines of truth, without a 
solitary exception. As soon as a child is capable of being 
damned, it is capable of being saved. As soon as a child 
can sin, that child can, God's grace assisting it, believe and 
receive the word of God. 



60 




BUSY FOLKS— FOLKS THAT ARE BUSY. 



The little one and the big ones are busy as busy can 
be, in things good, pure, and elevating. That's the way, 
mother, keep them busy, the little folks and the great folks, 
every one. Give them all something good to read, pure, 
virtuous, heavenly. Above all, and over all, he sure to give 
God's book the first place in the minds and hearts of your 
rising offspring ; form the taste on the principles of gosi3el 
purity. Then no desire will be had for the vain, the fool- 
ish, the volatile, the visionary. 

God gave us this precious volume, this Book of books, 
expressly to discern what is wise, safe, pure, lovely, virtu- 
ous, excellent in things intellectual and spiritual. Parents, 
begin with the Bible to form the taste in things beautiful, 
excellent, pure, lovely, heavenly, glorious, as soon as your 
little ones lisp a syllable audibly. The very moment the 
infantile mind expands, beams forth its radiant, uncontam- 



BUSY FOLKS. 61 

inated, guileless simplicity, take the Bible, place it in the 
Jiands of your children ; teach them to reverence it, read it, 
honor it, love it, treasure it up, practise it, abide by it : 
clasp it to their bosoms as a precious treasure, more 
precious than gold, " sweeter also than honey and the 
honey-comb." The neglecting of this blessed book in 
forming the early taste has been the downfall of individ- 
uals, families, communities, nations, the whole world ! 

By all 77iea?is, then, let the Bible be the book to form 
your tastes, your children's tastes, and your children's 
children's tastes, to the third and fourth generations. 
Everybody's taste, young and old, should be formed on 
this book. There is no book like it to form the taste, to 
make it just what it ought to be. 

" Oh, happy they, who in their youth 
Are brought to know and love the truth ! 
For none but those whom truth makeig free 
Can e'er enjoy true liberty." 



"And these w^ords," saith the Lord, "which I com- 
mand thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou 
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall 
talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, and w^hen thou liest down and 
when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign 
upon thine hand ; aiid they shall be as frontlets between 
thine eyes, and thou shalt write them on the posts of thine 
house, and on thy gates." J)eut. vi. 6-8. 

" Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work 
be pure, and whether it be right." Prov. xx. 11. 



62 



TEACH THE BIBLE TO THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

*' Bread of our souls ! whereon we feed ; 
True manna from on high !" 

Make the study of the Holy Scriptures the first thing in 
family training. How came little Timothy wise unto sal- 
vation ? Through the instrumentality of his pious mother, 
grandmother, and the Holy Scriptures, he became wise in 
heavenly things, even from his childhood — " through faith 
which is in Christ Jesus." 

Do we make the salvation of our children the first and 
supreme object ? A knowledge of the Bible is indispensa- 
ble. Nowhere else can we learn the truth in relation to 
God, or find out what must be done to secure our soul's 
salvation. It is only from the Bible we learn that God is 
love ; that his character is spotlessly holy. There we are 
informed that our first duty, our chief interest, is to acquire 
a character in righteousness and benevolence like God's. 
It is on the pages of the Bible we discover tliat, having all 
revolted from God, lost his favor, become exposed to de- 
struction, we can be saved ; not by works of righteousness 
which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration 
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the Bible the only safe rules of conduct are laid down. 
There are presented the most forcible inducements to con- 
duct ourselves virtuously and piously — the brightest re- 
wards promised to the righteous, the most fearful woe 
threatened to the sinner. In a word, the law of the Lord 
is perfect, converting the soul. Wherewithal, it is asked, 
shall a young man cleanse his way ? The only satisfactory 
answer is, by " taking heed thereto, according to thy 
word." ■ 



TEACH THE BIBLE TO THE LITTLE FOLKS. 63 

If, therefore, it is so important that men should under- 
stand the Bible to be saved, it is especially desirable to 
impart this knowledge as early as possible to our oiFspring. 
Children are better prepared to receive the truth than they 
will be at any other time of life. It is important that 
much of the Bible should be treasured up in the memory. 
The memory of children is naturally strong and retentive. 
It is less likely that a truth lodged in their mind will be 
lost, than it is with other persons. If the truths of the 
Bible be judiciously and kindly exhibited to them, they 
will more probably be received in the love of them than in 
riper years. There is more hope of doing them good. 
Their habits of sin are not confirmed ; their love of the 
world is less ardent. They have not learned to treat re- 
ligion and eternal things with indifference and scorn. If 
ever it can be hoped that religious instruction will do any- 
thing to mould the character into a right state, to form 
one to virtuous and pious habits, this hope may be cher- 
ished with respect to the young. If ever there be a time 
when we may expect the influences of the Spirit to attend 
our instructions and make them eflicacious, childhood is 
the time. We are directed to sow our seed in the morn- 
ing. If sown then, it is the more likely to germinate, and 
bear fruit unto eternal life. 



The most important part of education every parent 
in a Christian land may so control, as to be able to say, 
w^hen his oifspring arrive at maturity, from childhood they 
have knowm the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make 
them w^ise unto salvation. 



64 



A WORD FROM THE MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 

" Our children were always put into a regular method 
of living, in such things as they were capable of, from their 
birth. When turned a year old, they were taught to fear 
the rod and cry softly, by which means they escaped much 
correction, which they might otherwise have had, and that 
most odious noise, of the crying of children, was rarely 
ever heard in the house. As soon as they grew pretty 
strong, they were confined to three meals a day. And 
when they could handle a knife and fork they were set to 
our table. They were never suffered to choose their meat. 
Eating and drinking between meals were never allowed, 
unless in case of sickness, which seldom happened. They 
were so constantly used to eat and drink what was given 
to them, that when any of them were ill there was no diffi- 
culty in making them take the most unpleasant medicines, 
for they dare not refuse it. 

" To form the minds of children, the first thing to be done 
is to conquer their will. To inform the understanding is a 
work of time, and must, with children, proceed by slow 
degrees ; but the subjecting the will is a thing that must 
be done at once, and the sooner the better; for by neglect- 
ing timely correction, they will contract a stubbornness 
and obstinacy which are hardly ever after conquered. In 
the esteem of the w^orld they pass for kind and indulgent, 
whom I call cruel parents, Avho permit their children to 
get habits which they know must be afterward broken. 
When the will of a child is subdued, it reveres and stands 
in awe of its parents. I insist upon conquering the will of 
children betimes, because this is the only strong and ra- 
tional foundation of a religious education, without which 
both precept and example will be ineffectual. But when 



A WORD FROM THE MOTHER OF THE WESLEYS. 65 

this is done, then the child is capable of being governed by 
the reason and piety of its parents, till its own understand- 
ing comes to maturity, and the principles of religion have 
taken root in the mind. 

" As self-will is the root of all sin and misery, so whatever 
cherishes this in children, insures their wretchedness and 
irreligion. Whatever checks and mortifies it, promotes 
their future happiness and piety. This is still more evi- 
dent, if we further consider that religion is nothing else 
than doing the will of God, and not our own ; that the one 
grand impediment to our temporal and eternal happiness 
being this self-will, no indulgence of it can be trivial, no 
denial unprofitable. Heaven or hell depends on this alone, 
so that the parent who studies to subdue it in his child, 
works together with God in the renewing and saving of a 
soul ; the parent who indulges it, does the devil's work, and 
makes religion impracticable, salvation unattainable, and 
does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body, 
forever ! Our children were taught the Lord's Prayer as 
soon as they could speak. They were early taught to dis- 
tinguish the Sabbath from other days, and to be still at 
family prayers. They were quickly made to understand 
* they should have nothing they cried for.' " 



THE MOTHER'S MISSION. 

" Sometimes mothers think it is hard to be shut up at 
bome with the care of little children. But she that takes 
care of little children takes care of great eternities. She 
that takes care of a little child takes care of an empire that 
knows no bounds and no dimensions." 



66 




NURSING LITTLE FOLKS FOR THE LORD. 



TRAININa THEM " IN THE WAT THET SHOULD GO. 



blessed icoman ! 



" There, 'mid the sunshine and the flowers, 
No longer mayst thou lightly stray ; 
The great trust of thy womanhood 
Is laid upon thy soul to-day." 

When God lays a new-born babe in the arms of a wedded 
pair, he says to them, " Take this child and nurse it for me, 
and I will give thee thy wages." God oifers the only 
wages that can satisfy the claims of love. He pays the 
heart's claim in the heart's own coin. What wages could 
repay Hannah's prayerful care like the sight of Samuel's 
after-career as Israel's upright judge? Moses standing on 
the mount was the " wafjes" of the Hebrew mother wdio 



jSrUESIXG LITTLE FOLKS FOR THE LORD. 67 

cradled him in her basket of rushes. St. Augustine's 
mighty service for the gospel was the best reward that 
God could give to Monica. John Wesley's mother was 
repaid for all her patient discipline. George Washington 
was God's reward to Washington's good mother ; as Arch- 
ibald Alexander and Brown of Haddington were to theirs. 

The " wages of sin is death," and of no sin more surely 
than parental. It is death to peace of mind ; death to do- 
mestic happiness ; death to the neglected or misguided 
souls of their offspring. 

" Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee 
thy wages," is the inscription which God's hand writes on 
every cradle. " When I dressed my child each morning, I 
prayed that Jesus would clothe it with purity," said a 
godly mother to one who inquired her secret of good train- 
ing. " When I wash it, I pray that his blood will cleanse 
its young soul from evil ; when I feed it, I pray that its 
heart may be nourished with truth, and may grow into 
likeness with the youthful Jesus of Nazareth." Here was 
religious training from the cradle. It began with the 
dawn, and its course was like the sun, growing more full- 
orbed in beauty until the " perfect day." That mother 
received her golden wages in the early conversion, useful- 
ness, and honor of all her children. " Go thou and do 
likewise." 

" Lo, when our loving Saviour comes, 
And death yields up its prey, 
We'll meet those darling little ones 
In realms of endless day." 



" The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Avisdom, and 
the knowledge of the holy is understanding." Prov. ix. 10. 



68 



SIGHT BEAUTIFUL! SIGHT HEAVENLY! 

Young friends, what more beautiful than a grouj) of 
little girls, from eight to twelve years of age, assembled 
for prayer and praise ? 

This lovely sight we beheld recently on Long Island. 
While conversing with a lady, we heard sweet music, 
songs of praise. The lady informed us that some eight or 
ten school-children, during intermission, met in a room of 
hers to sing and pray. Pray ? Yes ; surely, fervently, 
for their parents, brothers and sisters, sinners, the poor, the 
widow, and the orphan ; for God to revive his work, that 
his name mio-ht be o-lorified. 

We were permitted to join our voice Avith theirs. These 
little girls were born of the Spirit, had commenced a new 
life of virtue, piety, and love. Surely angels rejoice at a 
scene like this ! Young readers, will not you begin this 
new life of love, yield your little hearts to God now ? 

The Saviour loves little children, invites them to his em- 
brace, opens his arms wide to receive them. Will you go 
to this loving Jesus now, who says, " They that seek me 
early shall find me ?" Now is the accepted time, the day 
of salvation. 

Little friends, it's a fearful thing to die without Jesus to 
make a dying bed as soft as downy pillows are. Think of 
the judgment, when all your sins will be known, brought 
to light — every wicked thought, word, and action. 

Will you, dear little ones, say, 

" Here's my heart — to God I give it ; 

Voice and tongue to praise his name . 
I have life — to liim I live it ; 
Hands— to him devote the same ?" 



69 




LOVING LITTLE FOLKS. 



"I almost think the angels 

Who tend life's garden fair, 
Drop down the sweet wild blossoms 
That bloom around us here." 

These lively cherubs enlighten our pathway and cheer 
"US onward. They are the roses of morning, the flowers of 
Eden, and the spice of life, the smiling beauties of spring- 
time. How many valuable lessons do little children, sweet, 
smiling, lovely, obedient, lamb-like, teach us ! 

Jesus took little children in his arms, blessed them, and 
said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." " Except ye 
be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not 
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, 
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is great- 
est in the kingjdom of heaven." Matt, xviii. 3. 



THE LAMBS OF THE FLOCK SWEET AS HEAVEN. 

THE MOKE LITTLE FOLKS THE BETTER. 

" Thank God for little children- 
Bright flowers by earth's wayside — 
The dancing, joyous life-boats 
Upon life's stormy tide." 

The more little folks the more joyful they make us. 
Every new-comer adds fresh joy to the family circle. Let 
the sweet little angels come without number, if nurtured 
for Jesus, made white in his blood. 

" Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord : and the fruit 
of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hands of 
a mighty man ; so are children of the youth. Happy is the 
man that hath his quiver full of them." JPsahn cxxvii. 3-5. 

Here we have God's own testimony to the fact that 
children are designed to increase our happiness. Is not 
heaven made happier, more joyful, when a redeemed soul 
is added to the number of the heavenly host? Do not 
songs of praise to God then rise higher, sweeter, more ec- 
statically melodious and glorious ? 

So, likewise, families where order is heaven's first law; 
where peace reigns, and children are olive-plants around 
the table ; where sons grow up plants of the Lord's plant- 
ing, and the daughters are polished stones, " polished after 
the similitude of a palace." Psalm cxliv. 12. Is not joy 
unspeakable in such a family when a newly-born babe is 
ushered in ? Furthermore, holy influences go out of such 
Edens or little heavens on earth, schools of Christ. Salva- 
tion streams ! goes forth as the light of the morning ! 
Every child is a missionary for Jesus, an angel of mercy, 
difl*using new light, new hope, new joy, as time rolls on, a 
blessing to nations yet unborn ! 



THE BABY JESUS. 

That dear baby, how precious ! We would like to Avrite 
a book about him. But if we commenced, where the 
stopping-place ? Volumes on volumes would not be suffi- 
cient to unfold a thousandth part of his beauties on beauties 
— glories on glories. 

The story in the Bible is so briefly and simply told, that 
few realize it in all its beauty. How many mothers re- 
member, as they sit engaged in the delightful task of 
making tiny, beautiful garments for the first-born child, 
that just so Mary sat and worked for the w^onderful One, 
who was the Son of God ? 

We love to think of Mary and her Babe ; how supremely 
happy she must have been — for to every true mother her 
child is a divine object, and how much more would it be 
so did she know that the Almigh'ty God himself was his 
lather ! 

Happy, happy Mary ! 

The baby Jesus received presents too, and very costly 
ones ; for the wise men came inquiring for him, and saying, 
" We have seen his star in the east, and are come to wor- 
ship him." 

Think how" wonderful that was. A star appeared in the 
sky, which moved and led the wise men to a place where 
lay a little infant, a tiny, tender, new-born baby, the des- 
tined Saviour of all mankind ! Then, when they had found 
the* Child and Avorshipped him, " they presented unto him 
gifts — gold, frankincense, and myrrh." 

The dear Baby ! how much he was like all other babies 
after all ! His mother washed, and dressed, and undressed 
him daily, tended him, carried him in her arms, sang him 
to sleep. What an exquisite happiness that must have been ! 



n 

LITTLE ELLA SLEEPS. 

TWO ON EARTH — TWO IN HEAVEN. 

" She came to smile and blush awhile, 
Like lovely flowers in Maj^ : 
To win each heart with guileless art, 
And then to pass away." 

"You have two children," said L 

" I have four," was the reply — " two on earth, two in 
heaven." 

There spoke the mother ! Still hers, only gone before ! 
Still remembered, loved, and cherished, by the hearth and 
at the board ; their places not yet filled, even though their 
successors draw" life from the same breast where their 
dying heads were pillowed. 

" Tw^o in heaven !" 

Safely housed from storm and tempest. No sickness 
there, nor drooj)ing head, nor fading eye, nor w^eary feet. 
By green pastures, tended by the Good Shepherd, linger 
the little lambs of the heavenly fold. 

" Two in heaven !" 

Earth less attractive. Eternity nearer. Invisible cords 
drawing the material soul upward. " Still small voices" 
ever whisper " Come !" to the world-weary spirit. 

" Two in heaven !" 

" Mother of angels !" AYalk softly ! Holy eyes watch 
thy footsteps ! Cherub forms bend to listen ! Keep thy 
spirit free from earth-taint ; so shalt thou gcf to them, 
though they may not return to thee. 

"Art thou a mother ? Then to thee are given 
Gems weighing more than all the stars of even ; 
Guard thou the treasure with a sleepless eye. 
The Master watclies from his throne on high, 
Fear thou uo suflering. count no toil a cross 
To lose thy jewels is eternal loss." 



73 




THE HAPPY FAMILY— A HEAVEN BELOW. 



Early training — loliat the advantages of it? the special 
benefits? the glory folloioing f 

Infinite, unspeakable, everlasting. " Man knoweth not 
the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of the 
living. The depth saith, It is not in me ; and the sea saith, 
It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither 
shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be 
valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or 
the sapphire. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it, 
and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 
No mention shall be made of coral or pearls ; for the price 
of this early heavenly training is above rubies." 

Children trained in wisdom's ways, truth, and love from 
infancy, are happy all the day, cheerful, joyous. *' The 



74 THE HAPPY FAMILY. 

ways of wisdom are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths 
are peace." 

" Oh, how happj^ are they, 
Who the Savioui* obey !" 

Not a jar of discord, not a murmuring thought of im- 
patience in the family-circle — all is sweet, heavenly, har- 
monious. It is love in the morning, love at noon; love as 
the evening shades draw near. It is love lying down, 
love rising up, love going out, love coming in. 

" Love through all their actions run, 
And all their words are mild ; 
They're like the blessed virgin's Son, 
That sweet and lovely child." 

Happy children — kind, loving, affectionate, obedient, — 
make happy parents. What blessing to parents, this side 
heaven, greater than a family of children, meek, mild, 
gentle — obedient sons and daughters, " polished after the 
similitude of a palace ?" 

In the praying-circle, morning, noon, at eventide, around 
the family altar all are present, from the littlest to the 
biggest, invariably the very instant of the tinkling of the 
bell, hush as heaven, innocent as doves, meek, humble, 
quiet, peaceful, orderly, gentle, smilingly obedient, bowing 
the knee with godly fear and reverential awe. The littlest 
of the little lift their " tiny" hands and hearts prayerfully 
at the throne of mercy ! Sight lovely ! angelically beau- 
tiful ! 

God is a^God of order— to be feared and had in reverence 
by all about him. They that worship him must worship 
him in spirit and in truth, in the beauty of holiness. " God 
is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall 
he also reap." " Be more ready to hear, than give the sac- 
rifice of fools." 



THE HAPPY FAMILY. 75 

Then, at table, how is it? Quiet, orderly, peaceful, 
clock-work ? Altogether so : the children are courteous, 
cheerful, sweet, heavenly, " olive-plants," kind, obedient, 
God-fearing. They eat whatever is set before them 
thankfully, asking no questions, exhibiting whatever is 
true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. A pic- 
ture of beauty exquisite, ah Eden, a Paradise below, the 
entering of heaven's gate, the topstone angelic. 

" The lambs of Jesus, they are meek ; 
The words of peace and truth they speak." 

Finally, think of the light heavenly, joy, salvation, glory 
on glory, going out daily from this heaven below, this city 
set on a hill. Think of the little ones trained for mission- 
ary fields, white for harvesting — on the alert, imitating 
Jesus, " going about doing good," administering consola- 
tion, causing the widow's heart to sing for joy. 

What sight on earth more delightful, transportingly joy- 
ous. At such a sight the hosts angelic tune their harps 
afresh, glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and 
good-will to man. 

Is this picture too highly colored, above the common 
walk, quite on the verge of heaven ? Does God, the ever- 
blessed, require less of little folks or great folks ? Will he 
accept a less holy standard ? Will anything short of this 
gospel purity, or entire consecratedness to God's service, 
insure any one a seat in glory, on the right hand of Mercy 
Eternal? 

Look and see, search and see ; to the law and the testi- 
mony. 

" Some angel guide my pen, while I draw 
What nothing else than angel can exceed — 
Children on earth devoted to the skies." 




WATTS AND HIS CRADLE HYMN. 

" Hush, my dear ; lie still and slumber ; 
Holy angels guard thy bed ; 
Heavenly blessings without number 
Gently falling on thy head. 

" Sleep, my babe ; thy food and raiment, 
House and home, thy friends provide ; 
And without thy care or payment, 
All thy wants are well supplied. 

" How much better thou'rt attended 
Than the Son of God could be, 
When from heaven he descended. 
And became a child like thee ! 

" Soft and easy is thy cradle ; 

Coarse and hard the Saviour lay, 
When his birthplace was a stable. 
And his softest bed was hay." 



11 

THE HAPPY FAMILY THE PRAYING FAMILY. 

" come, lei us wm'sMi) and how down, let us kneel hefm'-e our Maker.'''' 

" Come to the place of prayer ! 
Parents and children, come and kneel before 
Your God, and with united hearts adore 

Him whose alone your life and being are." 

That happy family, the " heaven below" — as every fam- 
ily should be — alluded to on page 70, is a praying family ; 
their souls, from the least to the greatest, are on fire for 
salvation, at home and abroad. This family is remarkable, 
one among a thousand, for heartfelt, soul-kindling devotion. 
It is truly wonderful, heart-cheering, to witness this con- 
tinual stream of holy incense rising up. They make every- 
thing so burningly, scorchingly hot with prayer and praise, 
that Satan finds no lodgment. Prayer is the mainspring, 
all-prevailing ; it moves everything — the heavens shake, 
the earth quakes ! 

Was ever the like ? It is praying here, praying there, 
rising up, lying down, going out, coming in, doing this, 
doing that. Every breath seems fraught with heaven ! 
Everything is carried by faith and prayer, prayer and 
faith. 

They pray always, lift up holy hands, without wrath or 
doubting, everyiohere. Closet prayer, family prayer, social 
prayer, public prayer is regular, systematic, timely, un- 
ceasing. It is prayer in the morning, it's prayer at noon, 
it's prayer at eventide. It is pray, P^^^^y-, pray — no end to 
it. They pray all the time, and keep on praying all the 
tirne in the spiiit, watching thereunto. Prayer is the 
w^atchword, the motto, the text-book. They begin the day 
with prayer and end it in prayer. This praying family 
and heavenly family are proverbial for their praying spirit. 



18 THE HAPPY FAMILY THE PRAYING FA^IILY. 

In their morning, noon, and evening services around the 
family altar, at meetings for social prayer, praise, and tes- 
timony, they all pray, from the least to the greatest, the 
old and the young, the little folks and the great folks, 
male and female ; every one seems to have caught the fire 
and spirit of prayer, and prayer flows out spontaneously 
from every heart. Blessed family ! Who next ? 



THE LITTLE CHILD'S PKAYER. 

" Jesus, see a little child 

Humbly at thy footstool stay ; 
Thou who art so meek and mild, 
Stop and teach me what to say. 

" Though thou art so great and high, 
Thou dost see, with smiling face, 
Little children when they cry ; 
' Saviour, guide us by thy grace.' 

" Show me what I ought to be. 
Make me every evil shun ; 
Thee in all things may I see. 
In thy holy footsteps run. 

" Jesus, all my sins forgive ; 

Make me lowly, pure in heart ; 
For thy glory may I live, 
.Then be with thee where thou art." 



79 



LITTLE FOLKS BIBLE EEFORMERS. WHY NOT? 

What hinders? Why is not every little boy and girl 
alive, wide-awake, on lire to make the world better and 
happier ; swift on errands of love, mercy, and truth ; run- 
ning here, running there, flying here, flying there on deeds 
benevolent, gracious, glorious ? To do good to this one, 
to that one ; making this one better and happier, and that 
one better and happier ? 

What hinders the lambs of the flock being just as zeal- 
ous, just as active — if not more — in doing the Master's will, 
telling how good Jesus is, how ready, able, and willing to 
save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, as 
the big folks are ? 

Why should not these young discijjles of our blessed 
Lord raise their little voices just as loud as the great folks 
do theirs, even to the highest pitch, against every evil, 
sins popular and unpopular, " cry aloud, spare not ?" If 
their souls are baptized pentecostally, on fire lovingly, 
kindled to a flame most holy, as they should be, would 
they not be constrained to sjoeak out and out, thunder out, 
flash out Bible-truth, here, there, all about, fearlessly, un- 
compromisingly ? 

These little Bible-reformers say with Elihu : " I said, I 
will answer also my part, I also will show mine opinion. 
For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth 
me. Behold, my belly is as wine, which hath no vent, it 
is ready to burst like new bottles. I will speak, that I 
may be refreshed : I will open my lips and answer." Joh^ 
xxxii. 17-20. 

Preach ? Assuredly ; day in, day out, rising up, lying 
down ; in every place, by example, precept, word of mouth ; 
.every thought, look, action speaks for Jesus. 



80 -LITTLE FOLKS BIBLE-REFORMERS. 

Their little faces shining holiness glowingly, rivet con- 
viction on the stoutest, proudest, hardest heart ; the most 
obdurate, case-hardened, heaven-daring sinners cry out 
" Lord, save ; we perish." 

Revivals on revivals — Bible-reformatory, genuine, truly 
evangelical — begin, spread far and near — the earth soon 
" blossoms as the rose." The very spot to commence the 
world's salvation, spread gospel-truth to the ends of the 
earth, is the nursery, around the fireside, the domestic 
altar. Who begins ? Who ? 



SCATTER SEED. 

" In the furrows of thy life 

Scatter seed ! 
Small may.be thy si^irit-field. 
But a goodly crop 'twill yield : 
Sow the kindly word and deed — 

Scatter seed ! 

" Sun and shower aid thee now, 

Scatter seed ! 
Who can tell where grain may grow ? 
Winds are blowing to and fro ; 
Daily good thy simple creed. 

Scatter seed ! 

" Up ! the morning flies away — 

Scatter seed ! 
Hand of thine must never tire, 
Heart must keep its pure desire : 
While thy brothers faint and bleed, 

Scatter seed !" 



81 




LITTLE FOLKS PITYING THE POOR 

That's rigbt, little friends, open your hearts and purses 
wide. " Give, and it shall be given — pressed down, running 
over." "He that watereth shall be watered." "Blessed 
is he that considereth the poor." This poor boy in the 
picture is not only poverty-stricken, but feeble in health, 
emaciated. We rejoice to see these little hands open for 
his relief When we give we should do it cheerfully. 
" The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." But never give, 
young readers, " to be seen of men." If you do, you have 
" no reward of your Father who is in heaven." " Let not 
your left hand know what your right hand doeth." Turn 
to Matthew, vi. 1-4, and see what Jesus says about alms- 
giving. 

But stop, little folks, have you given yourselves to the 
Lord, wholly, spirit, soul, and body, "to be his forever?" 

4* 



82 LITTLE FOLKS PITYING THE POOR. 

This is the first thing. Never put the cart before the 
horses. First of all repent, believe on Jesus, live in the 
Spirit, walk in the Spirit. " Whatsoever ye do, do it 
heartily to the Lord and not unto men." Then when all 
is on the altar Christ Jesus, give, keep on giving, withhold 
not your little hands. 

" Sow in the morn thy seed ; 
At eve hold not thy hand ; 
To doubt and fear give thou no heed ; 
Broadcast it o'er the land." 

Give as God enables you, and as opportunity offers. 
Give yourselves first ; then you will be duly prepared to 
give your substance, the bounties heaven bestows. Give 
w^hile it is in your power to give. Be thankful to God for 
opportunities to give ; and be sure to embrace them cheer- 
fully, at the very time the heart moves charitably. Don't 
w^ait to be called upon, or urged to give to objects of 
mercy and love ; but seek them out, go in search of them, 
as Job did. Ask God to open new avenues, new channels 
of mercy for your full, generous, overflowing hearts. Tell 
him you are his steward, that you desii'e to know how to 
disburse, when and where. In giving we live, move, and 
have our being — it is life to the soul. The choicest bless- 
ings of heaven rest cm the cheerful giver. 

" Cast thy bread upon the waters : thou shalt find it 
after many days." " It is more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive." 

Give ! " How much ?" As the Lord enables you, pros- 
pers you. 

" As freely we ourselves receive, 
So freely must we ever give." 

How much did the poor widow give ? One-tenth ? Xay ; 
*' all the living she had." Luke^ xxi. 4. 



83 



GIVE— KEEP GIVING. 

lilTTLB FOLKS CASTING THEIR MITES INTO THE TREASURY OF THE LORD. — THK 
HAPPY RESULTS. — A LESSON FROM IDOLATERS. 

•' Give ! let the gift be ever so small ; . 
Better do little than nothing at all ; 
An act of kindness, a word, a prayer, 
To ligh^n the burden of sorrov/ and care." 

A LITTLE girl, who once gave to the missionary cause a 
pair of mittens of her own knitting, had awakened in her 
heart a benevolent interest in the cause which nothing but 
her own action in its behalf could have excited. The 
heathen accustom their little children to act in the services 
of idolatry: when the car of Juggernaut is drawn, the 
hands of children seize the rope. We saw the picture of a 
man carrying his offering to the idol. He himself carries 
a fowl ; his oldest son, six years old, carries three sweet 
potatoes ; his daughter, three years old, carries a cocoanut ; 
then follows the mother with a brass plate full of rice, and 
the little infant, one year old, bearing a plantain in its tiny 
hands. So let Christian parents train their children to act 
for Christ. 

But it is not enough for a child to carry his mite now 
and then to the treasury of the Lord. The correct theory 
of training children is, that they must be taught to regaixi 
this as the grand object of the whole life. Here is a rad- 
ical defect ; the Church is teaching her children that doing 
good will he the business of life ; she should make it their 
business noio. " Wist ye not that I must be about my 
Father's business ?" Children should be constantly em- 
ployed in doing good. Every day there should be some- 
thing about their pursuits practically to impress the great 
lesson, " Ye are not your own." 



84 




THAT'S RIGHT, MOTHER, TEACH YOUR LITTLE ONE 
TO PRAY. 

Begin early, take it aside, where no eye sees but God's. 
Teach it to pray in the spirit, in faith, in the name of 
Jesus. Parents frequently inquire what prayer is suitable 
or appropriate for little folks. 

''Forgive, O Lorrl, forgive, I pray, 

The naughty things that I have done, 
And take my sinful heart aM'ay, 
And make me holy like thy Son." 

This prayer meets what is often a deep and felt want in 
the child's heart. The convictions of sin are very early in 
children, earlier than most people think, and they crave 
some form of confession to God, and of supplication for 
forgiveness and purity of heart. 



" Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a 
crown of life." 



85 



THINGS 'BEAUTIFUL AND THINGS NOT BEAUTIFUL. 

" Look to the garden of your heart, 
For weeds are growing there ; 
With faithful prayer act well your part, 
It needs a constant care." 

"Whenever and wherever you see little children disor- 
derly at prayer-time — noisy, turbulent, running hither and 
thither, doing this, doing that, petulant, self-willed, where 
all should be quiet, peaceful, heavenly — take it for granted 
there is a foot out of joint, a spoke out of some wheel, that 
the parents are loose in family discipline. 

At family worship every one, little and big, should be 
hush, still as possible, peaceful as heaven, solemn as 
eternity, calm as a summer's eve. The little ones espe- 
cially should be as quiet as lambs, peaceful and harmless 
as doves, still as life, hush as heaven. Not a whisper, not 
a moving muscle, save it be God-ward. 

Parents, begin early, at the first dawning, to discipline 
your family in quiet, peaceful, humble, systematic order. 
The very instant the watchword for prayer is given, let 
every one, from the least to the greatest, be on the spot, 
" lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting." Be- 
sides this clock-work, quiet, calm, sweet, heavenly order 
and regularity, let there be ample time allotted to do justice 
to this work of grace and salvation. Never hurry over 
family prayers. Give yourselves time and opportunity to 
get your hearts and souls alive — on fire ! ere you go forth 
to your daily avocations — you gain it twice told. 

, " Oome to the place of prayer ! 
Parents and children, come and kneel before 
Your God, and with united hearts adore 

Him whose alone your life and being are." 

Beloved reader, is clock-work in the family yours ; order, 



86 THINGS BEAUTIFUL AND THINGS NOT BEAUTIFUL. 

heaven's first law, your model? Are your little ones " al- 
ways present at family devotion, quiet as lambs, harmless 
as doves, calm, peaceful, orderly, heavenly ? Never, if 
possible, suffer them to be absent, either morning or even- 
ing, as you gather around the family altar. 

Be regular and systematic in every domestic duty. 
Come from your closet duly prepared and God will meet 
you, and bless you and your little ones. 

" Sweet is the smile of home ! the mutual look, 
Where hearts are of each other sure ; 
Sweet are the joys that crown the household nook, 
The haunt of all affections pure. " 

What more beautiful this side glory eternal, than a well- 
ordered family. God-fearing, gathered at the domestic altar 
for social worship, and around the table spread with 
heaven's bounties, where the " little ones are olive-plants," 
affectionate, obedient, cheerful, grateful, kind, courteous? 
Do not angels behold the scene with seraphic joy, smile 
complacently — the Lord of glory himself? 

" 'Tis said that angels walk the earth — 
Fm sure it must be so, 
When round our path, scarce «een by us. 
Such bright things come and go." 



TARDY FOLKS AND FOLKS NOT TARDY. 

Little folhs^ that's right, exactly. We rejoice to see you 
in your place betimes. The moment you hear the bell ring 
for prayers, night and morning, be sure to be on the spot 
instantly, causing no delay, no interruption, no disorder or 
confusion. Some little boys and girls are tardy, slack, 
snail-like, have to be called once, twice, three times. 
Punctuality is the life of business. 




THE HOUSE-TOP: OR, THE ANCIENT MODE OF HOUSE- 
BUILDING. 

The roof is flat, often covered over with solid earth, or a 
kind of plaster made of coals, ashes, stones, and other sub- 
stances pounded together. On these roofs a little grass 
grows and shrubbery ; but these soon wither under the 
heat of the sun. Psalm cxxix. 6-8. 

The roofs of these houses have always been much used 
as places of pleasant retirement, where any one, little folks 
or great folks, can, if they choose, retire to read, meditate, 
and pray — pour out their souls in prayer to God for them- 
selves and for others. On the tops of these houses it is 
common to walk in the evening, enjoy its cool breezes, a'nd 
there, in summer, persons often sleep under the broad arch 
of heaven. On such a roof, Rahab concealed the spies 
with stalks of flax. Josh. ii. 6. Samuel talked with Saul. 



88 THE HOUSE-TOP. 

1 Sam. ix. 25. David walked at eventide. 2 Sam. xi. 2. 
And Peter employed himself in meditation and prayer. 
Acts, X. 9. 

No matter where we pray, in the closet, on the house- 
tops, in the forest, under the shady oak or sycamore-tree, 
by the sea-side, or on the high mountain, if so be we pray, 
and pray earnestly in faith, lifting up holy hands, watch- 
ing thereto with all perseverance. 

A closet for prayer we must have, and pray we must in 
the spirit. The moment we cease to pray and watch we 
are gone ! gone ! lost ! lost ! 

Peter, on a certain occasion, went up on the house-top to 
pray ; and what a blessed time he had ! 

Sisters, mothers, sons and daughters, old and young, flee 
to the closet — have your regular stated seasons, adhere to 
them strictly, undeviatingly. Lei no earthly care deprive 
you of these. Closet prayer is especially enjoined by 
Christ. " When thou prayest enter into thy closet," etc. 
See Matt. vi. 5. Our Saviour himself retired frequently to 
the mountain-top, spent whole nights in secret devotion. 
The most devoted men and women on earth, in all ages, 
the most active, iiseful, consistently holy ones, have made 
the closet a special resort, the stronghold of faith. 

The Saviour uses the word closet to mean any place 
where, with no embarrassment either from the fear or pride 
of observation, we can freely pour out our hearts in prayer 
to God. No matter what are the dimensions of the place, 
what its flooring or canopy. Christ's closet was a moun- 
tain ; Isaac's, a field ; Peter's, the house-top. 

" 'Tis prayer supports the soul that seeks, 

Though thought be bi-oken, language lame ; 
Pray if thou canst, or canst not speak — 
But pray in faith in Jesus' name." 



89 
BEAUTIFUL ! BEAUTIFUL ! ! 

SOCIAL MEETINGS FOR LITTLE FOLKS AND BIG FOLKS. 

What more beautiful than a family-group, the husband, 
the wife, the father, the mother, the sons and the daughters, 
from the least to the greatest, seated in order in the family, 
in breathless attention, each in turn engaging in audible 
acts of worship ? The father, as the priest, opens the hig 
book, reads and expounds the sacred volume. A song of 
praise follows, in which all unite ; prayer is then offered, 
each one bowing the knee before the Lord. 

These family prayer-meetings are held daily in ^ome 
families ; but in others a portion of the Lord's day is set 
apart especially for these delightful exercises. At these 
weekly family circles the father prays, the mother, the 
children. Even the '•'•little ones'''' bow in humble adoration 
and lisp thanksgivings to the Father of spirits. 

" 'Tis from the little ones, O God, 

Their simple hearts and artless ways, 
Wiser, because more pure than we, 
Thou hast perfected praise," 

What more beautiful ? Parents, what think you of these 
delightful weekly assemblings ? Are they not worthy the 
adoption into every family? Here the little folks are 
taught to pray and praise, not lip-service merely, but in 
humble j^enitence, in spirit and in truth from the heart. 

" Out of the mouths of babes, O Lord, 

And sucklings (wondrous are the ways, 
And wise the counsels of his word;. 
Thou hast perfected praise." 

Souls arc converted, born into the kingdom, saved. 
These families thus become orderly, peaceful, heavenly, 
emblematical of the Eden above. 



90 



GIVE THANKS AT TABLE. 



Ask a blessing on the food you eat, audibly, before you 
partake of it ? Certainly, little folks and great folks, at 
morning, noon, and evening repasts. What! sit down, eat 
and drink — partake largely of God's choice, free bounties, 
and not a lisp of audible praise, heartfelt thanksgiving ! 
Are you not fearful a crust or a bone will stick in your 
throat and strangulation follow ? Beware ! 

The mere animal, in some way, exhibits tokens of grati- 
tude for blessings bestowed. The birds of the air, the 
beasts of the field, the fishes in the sea, the millions of 
dancing animacules before the setting sun, express their 
humble, grateful benedictions to Him " who openeth his lib- 
eral hand and supplieth the w^ants of every living thing." 

" No Scripture for it ?" Stop, friend, not so fast. Hark ! 

"And Jesus took the loaves; and Avhen he had given 
thanks, he distributed to the disciples," &c. John, vi. 11. 
Also at other times it is mentioned the same. Of Paul, 
we read : " And w^hen he had thus spoken, he took bread, 
and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and 
when he had broken it, he began to eat." Acts, xxvii. 35. 

By this we see tliat it was customary for them to give 
thanks to God before partaking of food. 

How reasonable this — ^how appropriate, praiseworthy in 
the presence of all around us, at home or abroad ! In what 
way can we better teach our families and friends — young 
and old — the fear, love, and reverence of God ? 

Parents, think of this. Little friends, wall you ? 

" Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the 
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

" Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye 
do, do all to the glory of God." 



91 




LITTLE FOLKS AT THEIR MORNING LESSON. 

Young friends, is not this beautiful ? These youngsters 
you see in the engraving are committing to memory pas- 
sages from the blessed Bible, to repeat at table while par- 
taking the bounties of Heaven. 

See how sweet, smiling, heavenly they look. The love 
of Jesus in the soul makes a little heaven below. 

Do you come to the festive board, with something good 
to communicate, edifying, administering grace to those 
present — that every thought, word, and deed, may be 
" Apples of gold in pictures of silver ?" The table spread 
with Heaven's choice bounties is the appropriate place to 
inculcate ord^r, sobriety, courtesy, politeness of manners, 
gentlemanly deportment, strict temperance in all things. 



92 
HINTS TO LITTLE FOLKS ON TABLE MANNERS. 

Young friends, never keep folks waiting : be prompt : 
get your seat quietly before the blessing is pronounced. 



" In silence take your seat, 
And give thanks to God before you 



Come with clean hands, clean faces, combed heads, and 
thankful hearts. 

Sit still ; be quiet ; wait patiently till others are helped. 

Never stretch your arm across the table for food ; this is 
impolite. When you wish for an article, ask for it politely. 

Never find fault with your food; be thankful for the 
simplest, plainest fare. 

Eat such things as are placed before you, asking no 
questions, making no wry faces. 

Some little folks render themselves ridiculous by mak- 
ing remarks while older persons are talking. 

If need be, help others to any dish or article that stands 
nearest you. 

Eat slowly ; masticate well your food. 

Be careful that you spill nothing. A beautiful white 
tablecloth looks badly, soiled with liquids or things from 
your plate. 

" The tablecloth you must not spoil, 
Nor with your food your fingers soil." 

NTever leave the table without permission. Some little 
boys and girls eat hastily, jump and run ! Oh ! oh ! 

Keep your seats till all rise from the table. 

Children truly polite at table, are almost sure to be po- 
lite everywhere. 



93 



HOME POLITENESS IN LITTLE FOLKS. 



"''Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to comei 
Tim. vi. 19. 

" True wisdom, early sought and gained, 
In age will give thee rest ; 
Oh, then improve the morn of life, 
To make its evening blest." 



Parents, as soon as your little ones begin to totter 
about, and speak, say lispingly, " ma" and " pa," that very 
instant teach them courtesy, good manners, to use correct 
language, chaste, delicate, refined, avoiding everything 
vulgar, uncouth, clownish, indelicate, or ungrammatical. 

Even baby lips can be taught refinement, courtesy, po- 
liteness of manners, things delicate, tasteful, beautiful, 
heavenly — the little words "please" and "thank you," 
when favors are conferred ; and far easier will they learn 
them than older children. 

Parents, the habits formed now in the hearts of your 
oflspring will be life-long. It was a principle with the old 
Jesuits that if they might have the first seven years of a 
child's life, they cared not who had the after training. 

In teaching your children these little sweet courtesies of 
life, you must repeat over and over the same lessons for the 
first few years. It requires line upon line ; and be not dis- 
couraged, even after seventy times repetition. The reward 
will come at length, and you will rejoice to see the little 
child you have taught so laboriously, acting voluntarily on 
the principles you have instilled, requiring no prompting 
or correction, for courtesy has become habit. 

In no place is the distinction between the refined and the 
ill-bred more marked than at the table. If your children 



94 HOME POLITENESS IN LITTLE FOLKS. 

are not early taught politeness here, you must prepare 
yourselves and them for a thousand mortifications in future 
life, and must look to see them regarded as annoying and 
disagreeable, by those whose good-will you may most de- 
sire to secure. "A child left to liimself, bringeth his 
mother to shame." However humble your position in life, 
though your family gather about a table of pine instead of 
mahogany, your children may and should be taught the 
same lesson of respectful behavior. It is a duty which 
God requires of you, and he holds you responsible for 
every unchecked manifestation of disrespect or disobe- 
dience you allow in your presence. Let your children 
learn to sit quietly, until all older than themselves are 
helped, and do not begin compromising with some little 
insuj'gent by a lump from the sugar-bowl. If you do, it 
will, by no means, be " the beginning of the end." As 
they advance in years, encourage them to join pleasantly, 
but always modestly, in the family conversation around the 
table. Let the meal-time be one of the most cheerful and 
heavenly hours of the day. 



" Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men 
should do unto you, do ye even so to them." 



"To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the 
Lord than sacrifice." Prov. xxi. 3. 



" The hope of the righteous shall be gladness : but the 
expectation of the wicked shall perish." Prov. x. 28. 




WASHINGTON AND HIS MOTHER 

" The mother, in her office, holds the key 
Of the soul ; and she it is who stamps the coin 
Of character, and makes the beini? who would be a savage, 
But for her gentle cares, a Christian man. 
Then crown her Queen o' the world." 

LiTixE folks and great folks, yon have heard a great 
deal about George Washington, his early training, his 
habits of industrj^, economy, punctuality, his undeviating 
regard for truth, of whatsoever things are pure, lovely, 
and of good report. Very many, if not all these beautiful 



96 GEORGE WASHINGTON AND HIS MOTHEE. 

traits of character are attributable to early instruction, 
wisdom from above, imparted by a discreet, faithful, godly 
mother. Behold her sweet, intelligent, lovely countenance, 
apparently fixed on little George, in the engraving. 

The true explanation of George Washington's sterling 
integrity is to be found in that happy and efficient mater- 
nal influence which, it is well known, was exercised upon 
him in his early days. On the death of his father, which 
occurred when he was only ten years old, the charge of his 
education devolved upon his mother. All accounts concur 
in the admission that she was an extraordinary woman, 
possessing not only rare intellectual endowments, but 
those moral qualities which give elevation, worth, and 
dignity to the soul. Under the tutelage of such a mother, 
the foundation of a character was laid which was the ad- 
miration of the generati(5n that was contemporary with him, 
which has lost nothing of its glory to the present time, and 
will lose nothing as long as his memory shall last. 

Integrity of character! This is what we want in the 
magistracy of the land, in the senate chamber, in the pul- 
pit, in the neighborhood, in the family, everywhere. What 
a world this would be were every one upright — a lover of 
truth, justice, and equality ! What a world it is, because 
they are so seldom found ! 

Here, then, is ample scope for parental toil and watch- 
fulness, for parental energy and wisdom. "Train up a 
child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will 
not depart from it," was verified in Washington : it must 
be verified in respect to others — in respect, mothers, to 
those little immortals whom you now press to your bosoms, 
and whom you love better than your own souls. So train 
them, that you may send them forth having on the breast- 
plate of truth. 



97 



EARLY PIETY— " APPLES OF GOLD." 

" When Jesus was here among men, 

He called little children as lambs to his fold." 

A SWEET and lovely spirit of piety in a little child's 
heart is like the sunlight shining on the dewdrops of the 
morning. 

Our Father is good and kind to his little ones ; he listens 
to their earliest prayers, and rejoices in the first faint fra- 
grance of the opening bud, which, if tenderly shielded and 
prayerfully nursed, will even now yield the ripened fruit of 
a holy life. 

There is no license for children to sin because they are 
children. God makes no distinction between little folks 
and great folks, touching moral deportment, a life of god- 
liness. God's precepts are equally binding on the lambs 
of the flock as on those of riper years. Children born of 
the Holy Spirit, quickened into life, as all children should 
be, are expected to let their light shine, walk softly, ex- 
hibit Christ in their daily walk and conversation, be living 
epistles, read and known of all men, ornaments in society, 
" olive-plants around the table," precious, lively stones in 
God's house, active in the divine life. 

Christians will be more sprightly, energetic, buoyant, 
in juvenile life than when advanced to mature years. We 
have no sympathy whatever with ascetic piety. Religion 
is happifying ; cheerfulness and joyfulness axe the fruits 
of faith and hope in God. 

Religion is the reverse of gloom or sadness. It imparts 
true pleasure and abiding peace, and sweetens everything 
in life. 

" Be ye holy, for I am holy," is applicable to every little 
son and daughter of Adam's race. 



98 
FAMILY MUSIC. 

TEACHING THE LITTLE FOLKS TO SING HYMNS OF PKAISE AND SPIRITUAL SONGS. 

" Yes ! there is music all around us, 

If we only list awhile ; 
And there is beauty everyvs'here, 

The home of childhood to beguile." 

Parents, do your children sing hymns of praise — tune 
their little harps in sweet melody — hymns of a pure and 
elevated character, that will be sure to leave a good im- 
pression, a virtuous, salutary influence ? 

What exercise more profitable, more delightful ? 

Were it not for sound and song, 

Life would lose its pleasure : 
We could not endure it long — 

Such a load of treasure. 
Say, what is it soothes the soul, 

And the heart rejoices ? 
'Tis the burst of joyous songs, 

Blending happy voices. 

Larks that soar in upper air, 

Nightingales in bowers. 
Quails that sing in meadows fair, 

Flying through the flowers — 
How they warble ! Sky and grove 

With their songs are ringing ; 
We, like them, will evermore 

Cheer the hours with sino^ins:. 

There is a chord in every human soul, which is touched 
by poetry, hence the magical power of ballads, and national 
songs, and religious hymns. 



FAMILY MUSIC. 99 

Wherever there are pious Germans, you find them with 
their hymn-book. 

Never suiFer your little ones to pollute their lips with 
wanton, lewd, or foolish songs, so frequently in the mouths 
of the foulest characters; nothing tends so surely and 
speedily to corrupt the heart and sear the conscience. 

" Unto the pure all things are pure ; but unto them that 
are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure ; but even 
their mind and conscience are defiled." 

" I hate to hear a wanton song, 
Their words offend my ears ; 
I should not dare defile my tongue 
With language such as theirs. 
Away from fools 111 turn my eyes, 
Nor with the scoffers go : * 

I would be walking with the wise, 
That wiser I may grow." 

Hymns committed to memory should be thoroughly 
committed. 



TRUE POLITENESS. 



The teachings of the Bible are calculated to make every 
woman a lady, and every man a gentleman. They will 
not lead a man to prefer mere external^ whether of dress or 
demeanor, to the inward grace of the heart. They will 
not make fops, or practisers of airs and attitudes, or turn 
men into hollow courtiers whose fair words and elegant 
exterior shall conceal a cold or a cruel heart. While it dis- 
courages and discountenances any such superficial counter- 
feits, it yet does, require most sternly that every man who 
comes under its influence should exhibit a Christian po- 
liteness, and should be in the highest sense of that word, a 
gentleiinan. 



100 




BIRDY, BIRDY, PRETTY BIRD Y— AIN'T IT BEAUTIFUL ! 

" Little birds sleep sweetly 
In their soft round nests, 
Crouching in the cover 
Of their mother's breast." 

'Don't hurt the sweet, beautiful songsters, little folks, 
not a hair of their heads, nor their nests or little ones ; it 
would be cruelly wicked to do so. Hark ! how sweetly 
they sing ! Sing praises ? Y^es, they do. Turn to the 
one hundred and forty-eighth Psalm and see how every- 
thing above and everything below, animate and inanimate, 
praise the Lord, and the birds among the rest. 

Learn a lesson from these merry, melodious songsters ? 
Certainly we can. 



We learn a lesson from the birds 
Of life from day to day— 

The things we set our hearts upon, 
Oft quickly pass away !" 



101 

SPARE THE INNOCENT BIRDS, LITTLE FRIENDS. 

The sparrows and wrens feed upon the crawling insects 
which lurk within the buds, foliage, and flowers of plants. 
The wren is pugnacious, and a little box in a cherry-tree 
will soon be appropriated by them, and they will drive 
away other birds that would otherwise feed upon the fruit. 
They do great good besides their music. They eat the 
worms, insects, bugs, and flies that destroy your flowers, 
plants, and vegetables. Be kind to the birds ; they will 
soon find it out, and when the blessed spring opens they 
will reward you. Thousands will send up a song of grate- 
ful praise, tune their little harps sweetly and melodiously. 
Don't harm the little birds. 

" Joyous and happy creatures, roamers of earth and air. 
Free children of the woods, bright glancers o'er the flood. 
Your homes are everywhere — 
Dear are ye, and familiar to the heart, 
Making of nature's loveliest things a part." 

We love the song-birds, and feel that if they were taken 
away the earth would lose one of its richest and most won- 
drous charms. We love them and wonder at them, for of 
all God's irrational creatures they are the most wondrous 
and beautiful. They are the choristers of heaven, the con- 
stant ministers of that worship which goes up continually 
unto God, the unpaid and faithful preachers of an unselfish 
and beautiful piety. 

Look at them, as swaying on flowery sprays they gush 
out those strains which chime with the songs of angels ; 
aye, look at them as they sing, with upturned head, rapt, 
soft, and half-closed eyes, their frail forms quivering in the 
ecstatic joy, and say if you do not feel your cold and 
selfish heart melting into reverential awe and rising up to 
God on the wings of praise and prayer. 



102 

TEACHING HYMNS TO THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

" Oh ! could I hear those good old songs — 

The songs my mother sung, 
As round the fire her loved ones sat, 

In days when I was young I 
But ah ! those songs are out of date : 

I ne'er may hear them more." 

Parent, do you preoccupy, forestall the enemy — store 
tKe mind of your little ones with good things, that Satau 
may find no lodgment ? Rest assured, if you do not early 
occupy the ground the devil will. 

The committing of good hymns is an important item in 
family training and means of grace. Children are de- 
lighted with poetry at a very early age ; and what is loved 
in early life will not be easily effaced. 

A pious lady informs us, that when a very little girl she 
committed hundreds of hymns and poetical effusions, not 
childish or baby hymns, but those of a pure, elevated gos- 
pel character. 

These precious gems of virtuous thought being rooted 
and grounded by prayer and frequent repetition, are now, 
after the lapse of some thirty years, fresh in recollection. 
This early discipline has been a safeguard all her life, a 
strong preservative against sin and folly. Among our 
German forefathers it was a very common practice in pro- 
fessedly Christian families to teach the children hymns and 
spiritual songs. Great advantages resulted from it. The 
children had thus useful employment afforded them to 
fill up time which would otherwise have been spent in idle- 
ness, if not in something worse. The repetition of them 
at different intervals also contributes much to their enjoy- 
ment. In this way, likewise, they were prompted to efforts 
to connect the poetry with music, and thus gradually ac- 
quired a taste, as well as cultivated a talent for singing. 



103 




wm 



Here's another pretty bird for the young readers. 

"What! the sparrow?" Yes, spoken of by Jesus — 
Matt. X. 29. 

David, speaking of him'self, says, " I watch, and am like a 
sparrow on the house-top." I*s. cii. 7. See, also, JPs, 
Ixxxiv. 3. 

"As on some lonely building-top, 
The sparrow tells her moan, 
Far from the tents of joy and hope 
I sit and grieve alone. 

Children should be taught not only to love the music of 
birds, but to look upon them as a model of beauty and af- 
fection to their mates and to their young. Instead of driv- 
ing them away from the house, encourage them to come 
and perch upon the window-eill and build their nest under 
the eaves. 

Without birds a country is desolate ; with them it is 



104 SPARE THOSE BIRDS. 

always cheerful. Their songs would enliven the heart of a 
stone, or make a miser for the moment forget his money. 

The association of children with birds when taught to 
love them and not destroy their nests, has as direct and 
certain a tendency to improve their natures as the church 
or family fireside. Teach a child that birds are among the 
good gifts of God to man, and it is hardly possible that the 
child will grow up to manhood without being possessed of 
some of the attributes of the sweet songsters of the grove. 

And yet there are parents who allow their children to 
wage incessant war upon the birds, never thinking of the 
injury they are doing their young minds, or how many 
destructive enemies they are entailing upon the crops, in 
the shape of countless caterpillars, grubs, and worms. 

We don't know of a more pleasant duty for a minister to 
engage in than an effort to preserve the birds in his parish. 

We would impress upon the mind of every child that 
the command " thou shalt not kill," meant these dear 
little birds as much as things o^ a higher degree. Thou 
shalt not wantonly kill a single thing of all creation that is 
not necessary for man's subsistence, or that is not detri- 
mental to his interest. 

On no pretext whatever should farmers or gardeners per- 
mit their birds to be disturbed. Instead of killing or fright- 
ening them away, they should make use of every means 
in their power to induce them to increase in number and 
become familiar and tame. 

Plant trees for them, build houses, if necessary, for them, 
and let no cat, dog, or boy ever molest them ; and they 
will teach you lessons of domestic bliss ; preach you ser- 
mons, and warble you such hymns as you hear not else- 
where. 



105 



LITTLE FOLKS SINGING PRAISES A GOOD SIGN. 

" God is our light, 

Fountain of glory and might ; 
Come, let U3 kneel and adore him." 

SiNGiXG to the Lord, are you, young friends, tuning your 
harps in praise? 

It is a good sign ; significant of purity of thought and 
action ; of a conscience void of offence toward God and 
man — a heart on fire pentecostally. No command in the 
Scriptures is more frequent than that of praising God. 
Those that love him most, praise him most. 

A Christian alive to God on the mount, full of faith and 
the Holy Spirit, abstaining from all appearance of evil, will 
be joyful in the Lord, and this holy joy will give vent in 
songs of praise. The Christian thus joyful will sing — tune 
his heart in grateful thanksgiving — make a joyful noise un- 
to the Lord. David, the sweet singer of Israel, was con- 
stantly singing, when a shepherd, and while king on the 
throne. Praises ecstatic burst forth spontaneously. Why 
this ? " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." 
David was a holy man. He washed his hands in innocence, 
had respect unto all God's commandments, " refrained his 
feet from every evil way." His whole soul was alive — on 
fire ! consequently, his heart was tuned, full to overflowing, 
gratulations, humble, devout, burst forth. " Sing praises," 
said he, " sing praises, sing praises unto God. Make a joy- 
ful noise to the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with 
gladness ; come before his presence with singing ! Enter 
into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with 
praise. O that men would praise the Lord, for his good- 
ness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. 
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous." " I will bless the 



106 LITTLE* FOLKS SINGING PRAISES A GOOD SIGN, 

Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my 
mouth." 

It's this joyful religion that the world heeds — must have ; 
nothing short of this will suffice. Reader, do you sing, 
sing to the Lord, make melody in your heart to him? 
Do you sing in your closet, in your family, in the great 
congregation, around the domestic altar, as you bow the 
knee morning and evening ? If your soul is elevated to 
God and his cause, you are sure to do it. Singing adds 
life and beauty to family devotion. The joy of the Lord 
is your strength. 

" Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me." 

" Praise to the Lord ! He is king over all the creation. 
Praise to the Lord ! O my soul, as the God of salvation. 

" Praise to the Lord ! who, in glorious majesty reigning, 
Beareth thee upward, on wings like the eagle's sustaining. 

" Praise to the Lord ! who, with honor and blessing hath 
crown'd thee, . 
Pouring his gifts out of heaven, like showers around thee ! 

"Think of it, too. 
What the Almighty can do — 
How by his love he hath bound thee. 

" Praise to the Lord ! and let all that is in me adore him ; 
All that hath breath, sing with Abraham's children be- 
fore him." 



107 
SINGING IN THE FAMILY. 

Singing in the family adds greatly to the interest of de- 
votional exercises, especially among children. It makes 
the family altar a pleasant place. 

The moral influence of vocal music of a sanctified char- 
acter has always been happy in the extreme. 

Show us the family where good music is cultivated, 
where the parents and children are accustomed often to 
mingle their voices together in song, and we will show you 
one, in almost every instance, where peace, harmony, and 
love prevail, and where the grosser vices have no dwelling- 
place. 

Music, like an angel from the courts of paradise, can 
throw around the soul a thousand heavenly influences, and 
charm it into the paths of virtue. 

Is it not to be regretted that good men — heads of fami- 
lies — who are regular in their morning and evening devo- 
tions, should omit singing? 

What more delightful scene this side heaven, than pa- 
rents, with their sons and daughters surrounding the 
domestic circle, devoutly uniting their voices in sacred 
sonof ! 



THE SOUL OF MUSIC. 

The eloquence of music depends upon the same great 
principles as that of oratory. If to move others in the 
latter it is necessary that the speaker be himself moved, 
how much more is it requisite in music, which is confess- 
edly the language of sentiment, feeling, and passion ! 

You that sing the high praises of God in the sanctuary, 
is this your case ? 



108 



^r^--^^^,^^. 




OUR BABY BETTER THAN EVERYBODY'S BABY. 

Our baby is the best baby that ever was. Everybody's 
baby is, we suppose." Oh, how she took us by surprise ! 
We found her in mother's bed one cold March morning. 
Where did she come from ? Bobby asked, and Jamie 
asked, and I. " God gave her," said her mother. " But 
how did he send her ? Did an angel fetch her ?" Mother 
didn't tell. She only said, " God sent her. It was so 
good in God." " I shall always love God for giving me a 
little sister," said Bobby ; " that's just what I wanted, a 
little sister to play with." We must be very patient and 
gentle teaching her. Our baby's name is Mary. We call 
her Mamie. Oh, we love her so ! 



109 

SJSIILING SERMONS. 

Mothers, can you smile? Do you smile, sweetly, 
heavenly, joyfully — with Jesus in your soul ? Well, smile 
on, keep on smiling, day in, day out. Have you a beau- 
tiful first-born, beautiful as an angel? What the first sermon 
to this precious gift ? A smile from a heart ovei-flowing 
with love to Jesus and your infant babe ? Seest thou not 
the little one smile in return ? Try it and see. And what 
more ecstatically beautiful and happifying than an infant 
smile in imitation of the mother's smile of love. And will 
not this heavenly smile of the loving, godiy mother leave 
an impression indelible for good, merciful and gracious ? 

Mothers beloved, follow up these gracious, smiling ser- 
mons from the time your child first opens its eyes to behold 
a new world, on and on. Who knows but those smiling 
sermons w^ere the secret of secrets with Joshebed, the 
mother of Moses ; of Hannah, the mother of Samuel ; of 
the mother and grandmother of little Timothy ? Blessed 
sermons ! Lord, give us more of them. 

" God bless little children ! 
Day by day. 
With pure and simple wiles, • 
And winning w^ords and smiles, 
They creep into the heart. 

And who would wish to say them nay ? 

" They look up in our faces. 

And their eyes 

Are tender and are fair. 

As if still lingered there 

The Saviour's kindly smile ! 

So very meek they look, and wise." 



110 

AN HONEST LOOK, A PLEASANT SMILE, A HEAVENLY 

FACE. 

PARENTS, THrS'K OF IT — MINISTERS, THINK OF IT— LITTLE FOLKS, THINK OF IT. 

"A word, a look, has crush''d to earth 
Full many a budding flower. 
Which, had a smile but own'd its birth, 
Would bless life's darkest hour." 

"An honest look, a sweet, smiling, heavenly face, are 
priceless, "more to be desired than gold, yea, than much 
fine gold." 

A heavenly countenance is the highest commendation, 
the most conclusive argument, for the character of him who 
earns it. 

One glimpse of an angel's face would probably do more 
to impress us with the beauty of holiness than many an 
eloquent sermon an hour long. Stephen's radiant face was 
a powerful auxiliary to his discourse. The shining face of 
Moses when he came down from the mount was proof to 
the Israelites that he had seen the Lord. 

If this is true with an audience of adults, how much more 
with children ! Sensitive as they are, and often affected 
they cannot tell why or how, and gazing steadfastly as they 
do, with no sense of impropriety, into the face of their pa- 
rent or teacher, it^is almost unavoidable that his image 
should be reproduced in them. He is before them as the 
object is before the camera — the likeness will be daguerro- 
typed. The first language a child learns is in the face of 
its mother. Nor does he cease to read that language when 
he begins to understand words. During his whole parental 
and Sabbath-school pupilage he is perhaps as much under the 
influence of the language which meets his eye as of that 
which falls upon his ear. And how essential that they 
should be in perfect harmony ! 



Ill 




AIN'T THIS BEAUTIFUL, LITTLE FOLKS ? 

Who would wish to live Avithout flowers ? Where 
would the poet fly for his images of beauty, if they were to 
perish forever? Are they not the emblems of loveliness 
and innocence, the living types of all that is pleasing and 
graceful? We compare young lips to the rose, and the 
white brow to the radiant lily ; the winning eye gathers its 
glow from the violet, and a sweet voice is like a breeze kiss- 
ing its way through the flowers. We hang delicate blos- 
soms on the silken ringlets of the young bride, and strew 
her path with the fragrant bells, when she leaves the 
church. We place them around the marble face of the 
dead in their narrow coffin, and they become symbols of 
our affection, pleasures remembered and hopes faded, 
wishes flown, and scenes cherished, the more, that they can 
never return. Still we look to far-off scenes, to spring in 
other valleys, to the eternal summer beyond the grave, 
when the flowers that have faded shall again bloom in 
starry fields, where no rude winter can intrude. 



112 



DO FLOWERS SPEAK, YOUNG READERS? 
What do they say ? 

" Flowers, flowers, beautiful flowers, 
Sweet is your smile in this dim world of ours." 

That flowers express God's tenderness is seen from the 
use which we instinctively make of them, evidently meet- 
ing his intention. We plant them in gardens to make 
home a dearer sjjot, associating in the earliest recollections 
of childhood the doorway of the old mansion with clamber- 
ing vines and scarlet verbenas; we gather them in bou- 
quets, to add their cheerful brightness to the domestic 
duties of the house : we place them in the sick-room, to . 
freshen the mind of the invalid with thoughts of the green 
fields and the sunshine ; we bind their pliant buds in the 
tresses of the bride — emblems of purity and truth ; we 
strew wreaths of them on the bier of departed ones, saying 
through them that there are hopes which death cannot 
destroy ; we plant them at the grave itself, that they may 
twine and fold over the sod which covers a dear friend, 
thinking thus to make the last earthly home beautiful, as 
Avas the cherished home of childhood. 

Such are the flowers. Wherever we find them, they tell 
us that God is what he is. They speak of his wisdom, 
power, and gentleness. They were lovely companions of 
our first parents in paradise. 

" God might have made the earth bring forth 
Enough for great and small — 
Like to the oak and cedar-tree, 
Without a flower at all." 



113 

SPEAK GENTLY TO THE YOUNG. 

" Speak gently ! He who gave Ms life 

To bend man's stubborn will, 
When elements were fierce with strife, 

Said to them, ' Peace, be Rtill.' " 

Speak gently ! let not passions sorrowful and stern cor- 
rode the heart, or wrap in gloom life's pathway. Speak 
gently, for unkindness now may raise an angry storm, that 
in after-life we may strive in vain to calm. Words of love, 
in this world of sorrow, will loosen great burdens from the 
shoulders of many a toiling, careworn one, and plant roses 
in place of many a perished flower. If there is one law 
above all others that should be written upon the human 
heart, it is the law of kindness — the law of human love. 
Heaven's great law is love, and Christ's mission to the 
world was one of " peace on earth and good-will toward 
men." 

When the disciples were battling with the winds and 
waves upon the sea of Galilee, one gentle word, one calm 
majestic look from Jesus the Master, stilled the raging of 
the tempest, and j)roclaimed a tranquil sea. 

How much will it cost to make life beautiful with all its 
cares ? " The air is full of farewells to the dying," and life's 
sands are often wet with tears ; yet kind words, like flowers, 
gladden the cheerless waste with the sunshine of brighter 
hours. 

Speak gently, for the noblest heart may have some grief 
which may seek, perchance, to find relief in a murmuring 
tone. Then pause, and with the soft fingers of sympathy 
and love, lift the shadows and reveal the silver lining to the 
cloud. 

There is a power omnipotent in loving words to those 
who, like lost stars, have wandered far into darkness and 
error. 



il4 SPEAK GENTLY TO THE YOUNG. 

Let US not be forgetful, then, of those who are lost in the 
winding paths of sin and error, but remember with David 
to pray, " Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord ; keep the 
door of my lips." 

Especially around the quiet home fireside, should the wife 
and mother be possessed of that dove-like spirit which, no 
matter how dark the clouds may be, sheds forth a pure and 
holy light, which falls upon the heart like " dew upon the 
waving grass." 

Nothing but a patient and careful cultivation of meekness 
and humility, of benevolence and sympathy with human 
suffering, will bring to our hearts true and lasting enjoy- 
ment. 



LOVE AND KINDNESS. 

Angry looks can do no good. 

And blows are dealt in blindness ; 

Words are better understood, 
If spoken but in kindness. 

Simple love far more hath wrought, 
Although by childhood mutter'd, 

Than all the battles ever fought. 
Or oaths that men have utter'd. 

Friendship oft would longer last, 
And quarrels be prevented. 

If little words were let go past — 
Forgiven — not resented. 

Foolish things are frowns and sneers. 
For angry thoughts reveal them ; 

Rather drown them all in tears 
Than let another feel thenk 



I 



115 




BUSY FOLKS, OR LITTLE FOLKS BUSY. 

LITTLE rOLKS BUST? BUST AS A BEE THAT GATHERS HONET FROM EVERT 
OPENING FLOWER. 



Keep them still ? No, you can't. It's work, work, from, 
sunrise to sunset. How much, think you, does a little 
child daily ? can you tell ? It is doing this, doing that — 
tottering here, tottering there — climbing up here, kneeling 
down there, running to another place, but never still. 
Twisting and turning, rolling and doubling, as if testing 
every bone and muscle for their future uses. It is very 
curious to watch it. One who does so will understand the 
deep breathing of the little sleeper, as, with one arm tossed 
over its curly head, it prepares for the next day's gym- 
nastics. Tireless through the day, till that time comes, 
as the maternal love that accommodates itself, hour after 
hour, to its thousand wants and caprices, real and imaginary. 



116 BUSY FOLKS. 

A busy creature is a little child — to be looked upon with 
awe as well as delight, as its clear eye looks trustingly into 
faces that to God and man have essayed to wear masks ; 
as it sits in its little chair to ponder, precociously, over the 
white lie which you thought " funny " to tell it ; — as rising, 
and leaning on your knees, it says, thoughtfully, in a tone 
that should provoke a tear, not a smile, " I don't believe 
it." A lovely yet fearful thing is that little child. 

Mothers, tread softly here. ' Tis hallowed ground ! 

These busy hands must be early employed, actively en- 
gaged in good things — pure, lovely, virtuous ; else surely 
Satan will set them at work. 

Lambs of the flock ? Assuredly ' 

" The Shepherd sought his sheep, 
The Father sought his child." 

Time precious to these lambs ? Exceedingly — every mo- 
ment. Where the precious, golden seasons for reading, 
meditation, self-examination, prayer and praise, when very 
much of their time is spent in amusements, gay hilarity, 
sports and pastime ? Suppose these scenes of juvenile mer- 
riment and noisy sports are innocent in themselves (which 
is often doubtful), how much wiser and better it would 
be to redeem the precious moments for growth in grace, 
things useful and profitable ! Converted children, to keep 
them from backsliding, and to grow in grace, require the 
means of grace as much as those of riper years. To keep 
the lambs of the flock in the straight and narrow way of 
life, careful watchfulness is requisite ; prayerful study of 
God's word, regular closet visitations, instruction in the 
way of holiness, active usefulness in the divine life, and the 
proper discharge of every Christian duty. Children should 
imitate Jesus in going about doing good ; be little mission- 



BUSY FOLKS. 117 

aries, angels of mercy, examples of faith and love, of gos- 
pel purity and simplicity. Parents, do you believe this ? 
Little folks, do you ? 

It's a sad thing, lamentable indeed, for children once 
born into Christ's kingdom, having tasted the good word 
of life, to depart, backslide, drink in the spirit of the world, 
indulge in pride, fashion, and folly, and thus bring evil re- 
port of the goodly land ! Parents and teachers, will you 
see to this? Take these lambs in your arms, and carry 
them in your bosom ; keep them as the apple of the eye ; 
hide them under the shadow of the Almighty's wings. 

" If we work on marble, it will perish : if we work on 
brass, time will efface it ; if we rear temples, they will 
crumble into dust. But if we work upon immortal minds, 
if we imbue them with high principles, with a just fear of 
God and their fellow-men, we engrave on tho^e tablets 
something which no time can efface, but which will brighten 
to all eternity." 



" Happy the child whose early years 
Receive instruction w^ell. 
Who hates the sinner's path, and fears 
The road which leads to hell. 

" When we devote our youth to God, 
' Tis pleasing in his eyes ; 
A flower, when offer'd in the bud, 
Is no vain sacrifice." 



" Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man 
that getteth understanding." Prov. iii. 13. 



118 



A WORD TO BOYS AND GIRLS ON SMILING. 

Little folks, bow with you ? We have been talking to 
the big folks about smiling. Do you smile, keep on smil- 
ing joyfully, with heaven in your soul ? 

" A pleasant smile for every face, 
Oh ! 'tis a blessed thing ! 
It will the lines of care erase, 
And spots of beauty bring." 

Wear a smile and make others happy. You can live 
among beautiful flowers and singing birds, day in, day out, 
with a countenance beaming with heavenly smiles. The 
amount of happiness which you can produce is incalculable, 
if you will show a smiling face, a kind heart, and speak 
pleasant words. 

Wear a pleasant countenance ; let joy beam in your eye 
and love glow on your forehead. There is no joy so great 
as that which springs from a kind act or a pleasant deed, 
and you may feel it at night when you rest, and at morn- 
ing when you rise, and through the day when about your 
daily business. 

Oh ! how much good in a sweet smile ! Little friends, 
make trial of this smiling-business. 

" The sweet look of kindness, the peace-speaking tongue. 
So pleasant and lovely, in old or in young. 
Will win the affection of all that you see." 

We feel doubly sure that every one, old and young, hav- 
ing made trial of this sweet, heavenly gracefulness, would 
not exchange it for a frown, a morose or an unkind 
look. 

Oh ! little friends and great friends, smile ! Husbands 



A WORD TO BOYS AND GIRLS ON SMILING. 119 

and wives, fathers and mothers, smile ! Children, smile ! 
Man-servants and maid-servants, smile ! Smile all.the time. 
Smile as you lie down, as you rise up, as you go out, as 
you come in — go about your daily toil smiling. Smile in 
the morning, at noonday, at eventide — smile on, day in, 
day out. Let your whole life be made up of smiles. Does 
a stranger call? — go to the door smilingly. Open your 
lips with a smile, utter every syllable with a smile ; smile 
upon the stranger within thy gates, upon the beggar in 
tattered robes with haggard look. 

How much does a smile cost ? As much as a frown, a 
look of disdain ? A smile is the cheapest thing in the 
world : it is as free as the air we breathe. How pleasant 
to associate, transact business with countenances beaming 
forth with smiles continually ! Oh ! what a happy world 
this, were it a smiling world, made up of smiles ! 



" We cannot catch flies with vinegar." No more can 
we win love by frowns, or add many gems to the Saviour's 
crown by sharp words or gloomy looks. " The heart leaps 
kindly back to kindness," and is a sort of mercury in the 
human barometer, rising or sinking at the slightest change 
in the social atmosphere. How easily will even a smile 
lift the dark clouds of real grief ! while the cold look or un- 
kind word falls upon the spirits like a leaden weight. 

' The good soldier of Jesus Christ must possess a lightness 
and brightness of heart, an unfailing elasticity of sph-its, if 
he is to break his way to the heavenly country through 
the serried ranks of his spiritual foes. 



121 

THE "MISSIONARY RABBITS." 

" Hallo ! here you are !" cried Uncle Ben, looking into 
one of the stalls and seeing Harry feeding a pair of rabbits. 
. " See how tliey love this cabbage-leaf, uncle," said 
Harry, settling himself comfortably in the clean hay that 
was spread on the floor. " I do loA^e my bunnies ; I have 
got six, and two of them are as white as snow. These are my 
speckled ones, and the next are my ' silver sprigs ;' they 
are the best of all." 

" How long have you had them ?" asked Uncle Ben. 

" Oh, I've kept rabbits two years, and -sold twenty for 
fifty cents a piece." 

" Twenty ! So you have earned ten dollars. That's a 
fortune for a boy like you. What have you done with it ?" 

" I paid two dollars, a couple of months ago, for the 
silver sprigs and their new hutch, and I've spent a dollar 
for feed and repairs," 

" That leaves seven dollars ; did you buy books ?" 

" Xo, sir ; father buys my books." 

" Did you buy clothes ?" 

" No ; father gets them, too." 

" Well, you didn't pay for your schooling. Did you get 
playthings or sweetmeats ?" 

" No, Uncle Ben ; these have always been my missionary 
rabbits. I got them for that. All the money goes for 
the missionaries. I wish it were twice as much. As soon 
as I get a bill saved, if it's one dollar, or two, or more, off 
it goes to our minister, and he sends it to the society for 
me, to the treasurer, and you can't think the good it does 
me to know I'm helping to send the Bible to the heathen. 
Do you know. Uncle Ben," said Harry, " I've a notion that 
when I get to be a man I shall carry the Bible to the 
heathen myself?" 

6 



122 
LITTLE FOLKS REFORMING LITTLE FOLKS. 

No matter how little we are, if so be the heart is right, 
the life is right. Every little boy and girl should 
preach, be a reformer, do good, and communicate ; set the 
example of all that is true, honest, lovely, and of good re- 
port. Every one, little and big, should be a reformer ; re- 
form himself, then reform others, so long as there is any- 
thing to reform, or any evil to remove. 

I^o one is duly prepared to correct the faults of others 
till he has corrected his own — ^set his own house in order. 
The first thing is to seek wisdom from above, bow to King 
Jesus, take him for our pattern, our high-priest, our coun- 
sellor, our friend, our righteousness, sanctification, and 
redemption. 

Have we heavenly light? We can impart heavenly 
light. Have we wisdom from above — pure, peaceable, 
gentle, heavenly ? We can impart the same. 

That's the way, little folks — go forward, with your souls 
on fire with the love of Jesus. " And whatsoever you do, 
do it heartily to the Lord, and not to man." 

" And what, oh ! what is good ?" 
'Tis first to seek the favor of thy God ; 
Let thy will blend with his, and honor him 
By walking in the way thy Saviour trod. 

And then it is whate'er 
Tendeth to raise thy heart and hopes on high, 
Or to make others happier here 
On earth to live and peacefully to die. 



123 




A SOLDIER? YES; HERE HE IS. 

Here is a big soldier and several little ones. Are you a 
soldier, little reader ? 

What kind ? A soldier of the cross ? What your weap- 
ons of warfare ? Spiritual? Very well, this is the kind 
we need, must have to meet our enemies on the right and 
on the left, Satan and his legions. We have foes within, 
foes without. Some ignorant persons tell us that little 
folks can't fight, that when the battle waxes hot they will 
turn back, flee ! Who believes it ? Not a syllable of truth 
in it. As a general thing, little Christians are more ready 
to fiojht the battles of the Lord than the bior ones are, and 



124 A SOLDIEE. 

when they do battle, it is battle in very deed, no mistake ; 
and a very good reason for it. Turn their backs, flee when 
cannons roar and lightnings flash ? The very last to 
do it. Its " on, on I conquest or death," when parents do 
their whole duty to them fi'om the cradle upwards, begin 
in the outset to equip their little ones to battle the enemy, 
fight the good fight, lay hold on eternal life as soon, almost, 
as they can totter about ; put this bit of armor on and that, 
till they are fully equipped from head to foot, from top 
to toe. 

Turn, if you please, little reader, to the last chapter of 
Ephesians, begin at the twelfth verse, read to the nine- 
teenth, and you will see just what we mean by the Chris- 
tian armor both for the little folks and the big folks. Put 
on this armor complete ; burnish it ; keep it burnished, 
bright and .glittering, and our word for it, conquest is sure 
in every case. Indeed, you come off more than conquerors 
through him that loved us and gave himself for us. Our 
Captain has gone before, leads the van. 

What the reward ? 

" To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in 
my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with 
my P'ather in his throne." Rev. iii. 21. 

Parents, think of this, equip your little sons and daugh- 
ters thus for the battle-field, and soon salvation goes forth 
streamingly. This is what we mean by training children 
in the way they should go, as God requires. 



" He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction ; but 
he that refuseth reproof erreth." Prov. ix. 17. 



125 

LITTLE TRACT DISTRIBUTORS. 

" O'er the head of listening children 
Christ his sweetest blessings gave ; 
Little hands may aid his mission, 
A dying world to save." 

Little folks distribute tracts ? Undoubtedly ; to great 
advantage when their own hearts are right, made white in 
the blood of the Lamb, their souls on fire pentecostally 
for good things, merciful, just, and true, kindled to a 
flame most holy, as the soul of CA^ery little boy and girl 
should be. 

When their own hearts are in tune thus gospelly, then, 
and not till then, are they duly qualified for a general on- 
set in the battle-field against sin of every kind. Little 
folks, as well as great folks, must practise what they 
preach, and preach what they practise, else the cry will be, 
" Physician, heal thyself." " Thou, therefore, that teach- 
est another, teachest thou not thyself?" 

When the juveniles are well posted, Bible-reformatory, 
know in very deed Jesus is theirs entirely, their present 
Saviour, High Priest, Counsellor, Friend, Elder Brother, 
Sun, Shield, Exceeding Great Reward, All in All, now and 
forever ! — '• the way, the truth, and the life ;" then, on 
and on^ with good books^ tracts, and periodicals all about, 
that speak for Jesus, his dying love. Besides the silent 
messengers of truth, these little tract distributors can po- 
litely, meekly, and modestly open their lips for Jesus, drop 
a gentle word of reproof, exhortation, or consolation now 
and then, as the case requires. Whole armies of these 
little missionary folks should be raised up for this special 
mercy and evangelization, for scattering the good seed 
here, there, all about. Oh, oh ! what blessed times ! Who 
can tell ? 



126 LITTLE TRACT DISTHIBUTERS. 

Parents, what say you ? Little readers, what say you ? 
Is it not high time to wake, rise, shine — put on the whole 
armor of God — up and on ? 

" For sowin<? the seed of word and deed, 
Which the cold know not, nor the careless heed, 
Of the gentle word and the kindliest deed- 
Thus they bless the heart in its sorest need ; 

Sweet shall the harvest be !" 

Children rightly disciplined in Bible-order from the first 
dawning of life and hope will delight in this missionary 
service, their little feet will be swift on errands of mercy 
and salvation. To do good and communicate will be the 
joy of their souls. What sight more angelically beautiful 
than the lambs of the flock with souls on fire with holy 
zeal for glory everlasting ! 

This is no visionary thing ; it is what has been done, can 
be done, should be done. A faithful missionary in Kansas 



" I could distribute very many tracts and papers to great 
advantage. Only an hour since, I was interested by a 
dear little girl calling at my office, and asking, * Doctor, 
have you any more tracts? A large emigrant train is 
coming, and I would like to give one to each driver.' 
Brother Broughton sent me a number of tracts in a box, 
last fall, and nearly all of them have been given out to the 
train-drivers by this little girl, during which some very 
interesting incidents have taken place. Many a tear has 
been brought to the eye, and many a cheek has been moist- 
ened by the kind act of that faithful little friend with her 
tracts. She is so earnest, and has such a kind answer for 
all, I would like to keep her going if I can be furnished 
with the material." 



127 




O LOVELY MAY, EVER WELCOME, EVER GAY! 

"Welcome, all hail to thee ! welcome, young Spring ! 
The sun -ray is bright on the butterfly's wing, 
Beauty shines forth in the blossom-robed trees, 
Perfume floats by on the soft southern breeze." 



AxD shall the little ones — the most beautiful of all God's 
wonderful creation — be silent ? Let them sing, like merry- 
little lambs. And yet, 

" How can little children's hearts 
Bring forth flowers of love, 
Unless Christ the Lord imparts 
Sunshine from above ? 



128 

LITTLE FOLKS DROPPIKG KIND WORDS. 

" Scatter seed ! 

Small may be thy spirit-field. 

But a goodly crop 'twill yield ; 

Sow the kindly word and deed, 

Scatter seed 1" 

Little folks drop kind words — sow good seed? Yes, 
they do — here, there, all about — "Apples of gold in pic- 
tures of silver." Every little boy and girl born from 
above — indoctrinated gospelly — interested deeply and 
heartily in the love of Jesus, full of faith and the Holy 
Spirit, as all little folks should be, will drop kind words, 
they can't help it. And what more beautiful, praise- 
worthy ? Look at an example. 

Here is a good little boy dropping kind words — that 

" Scatters the gems of the Beantifal 
In the depths of the humble soul : 
They shall bud and blossom and bear the fruit 
While the endless ages roll." 

He drops a kind word wherever he is, wherever he goes, 
at home or abroad, from house to house, in all his visita- 
tions and distributions. Wherever there is an opportunity 
to squeeze in something good, kind, loving, consolatory, 
heart-cheering, elevating or purifying, he is sure to do it ; 
no opportunity is lost. This dropping kind words or good 
things, is his regular, systematic, constant business ; where- 
ever he is, in the morning, at noonday, or at eventide, he is 
sure to be dropping kind words, words that tell on the heart 
and conscience for time, for eternity. His heart is full of 
this dropping — overflowingly. His whole soul is in it. It 
seems just as easy to drop a kind, gracious, loving word, 
here, there, all about, as to breathe. "Out of the abun- 
dance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Is he in the mer- 



LllTLE FOLKS DROPPING KIXD WORDS. 129 

chant's office, behind the counter, in the school-room, in 
the street, by the wayside, in the house, in the kitchen, the 
parlor, the dining-room, up stairs, down stairs, lying down, 
rising up, going out, coming in — all the same — out drops 
a kind word, fresh from a heart of love, soul-kindling. 
Does he meet a little boy, or a sweet, smiling little girl, 
a kind word is dropped, invariably. Are the little folks in 
trouble, tearfully — he is sure to bind up the broken heart 
by dropping in a kind, cheering, comforting word of grace 
and consolation. 

Everybody loves him, little and big, for his kind words 
dropped here and there. This dropping kind heavenly words 
has been so constant, so frequent, so universal, that now 
everybody that meets this angel of mercy expects, as a 
matter of course, to have a kind word dropped the first 
thing. Does he visit a friend but for a moment — a kind 
word is dropped in the outset. His salutations are always 
mingled, more or less, with these kind, gentle droppings. 

This perpetual dropping of good things is his meat and his 
drink. He appears to be made up almost entirely of these 
blessed, comforting, edifying, heart-cheering droppings. 
They descend like the dew of heaven, or as the rain upon 
the mown grass. Wherever he visits or goes in the lanes 
or alleys, in the hovel or in the mansion, among the rich or 
the poor, the bond or the free, he is sure to light up every 
countenance joj-fuUy, by these heavenly droppings. " The 
widow's heart is also made to sing with joy !" Blessed 
boy ! happy boy ! 

Oh for a world of these droppings ! how soon would it 
■blossom as the rose ! Angels would tune their golden 
harps afresh — " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good- will to men." 



130 
THE EAETH BLOSSOMING AS THE ROSE. 

A KEMEDT TOR ALL EVILS— EVEKT EVIL. 

What evil under the sun may not be removed by obey- 
ing God in family duty ? Train every child in obedience 
to Heaven's high mandate, what the result ? Salvation on 
salvation, glory on glory ! 

1. Idolatry, or setting the aifections on things upon 
earth, and not on things above, would cease. " Thou shalt 
have no other gods before me." 

2. Profanity, blasphemy, false-swearing, the taking God's 
name in vain, would cease. 

3. The Lord's day would be a holy day, joyful, em- 
blematical of heaven. 

4. Fathers and mothers would be honored ; old age 
reverenced. " Obedience to parents" would be the watch- 
word of every son and daughter, from the least to the 
greatest. 

5. The violation of nature's laws would cease — intem- 
perance in every form, the awful curse, soul-damning, of 
strong drink and tobacco ! 

6. Lewdness, lasciviousness, evil concupiscence, nightly 
revellings, debauchery, devil's dens, and gambling hells 
would cease. 

v. Robbery, petty thefts, false weights and measures, 
lying, stealing, defrauding, etc., would be as things that 
were in time past. 

" A false balance is an abomination to the Lord ; but a 
just weight is his delight." 

" Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor." 

" A righteous man hateth lying ; but a ^vicked man is 
loathsome and cometh to shame." Prov. xiii. 15. 

Every man, woman, and child would use only — 



THE EARTH BLOSSOMIXG AS THE ROSE. 181 

"Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just 
hin." Lev. xix. 36. 

" To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the 
Lord than sacrifice." 

8. Evil-speaking, tattling, backbiting, slandering, foolish 
talking and jesting, pride, folly, and fashion would cease. 

9. Covetousness, love of gain, filthy lucre, the root of 
all evil, would cease.* 

10. Secret, oath-bound societies would be looked upon as 
the scaffoldings of Babel, the climbing up to heaven some 
other way, and all in them considered thieves and rob- 
bers ! 

. 11. Sectarianism, saying, " I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I 
of Cephas," the carnality of the day, would be the vile 
thing that was, but not now. 

12. Infidelity in every form ; Popery, the many-headed, 
serpentine monster ; superstition, bigotry, and will-worship 
would cease. 

" And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the 
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and 
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thes. 
ii. 8. 

What now? The earth blossoms as the rose, angelic 
voices sing anew, " Glory to God in the highest, peace on 
earth, good-will to man? Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain, 
the Saviour from all sin, the all in all, now, henceforth, 
and forever ! 



. * Then, no minister, deacon, or layman will be found at the mean, dirty business 
of writing novels for New York Ledgers and theaters for $30,000, or advocating 
billiard-tables and other games of chance for the rising age ! 



132 

JESUS LOVES LITTLE FOLKS. 

'■'■Suffer little children Jo come unto me^ and forbid them not, for of such is tM 
kingdom of heaven.'- 

'"Little children, Jesus loves you, 
He invites you to his arms ; 
To his breast he waits to fold you. 
There to shield you from alarms." 

Jesus was once a cliilcl, a holy child ; and here is the 
great plea for childhood. He who was once a child per- 
fectly understands and sympathizes with the heart of 
childhood. And how dare we limit the Holy One, and say 
that a child may not be a true Christian ? However early 
we begin our teachings, we will find that the Holy Spirit 
has been before us. Isaiah speats of teaching those just 
weaned — here a little, there a little, precept upon precept, 
line upon line — which is the proper manner of teaching- 
children. 

Children apprehend religious truths more readily than 
almost anything else. It has even been maintained by 
some, that the childi-en that cried in the temple, " Hosanna 
to the Son of David !" had discovered, with their nicer ap- 
prehensions, the Christ whom the rulers ignored. Early 
childhood is certainly the favored time for the inculcation 
of religious truth. Then there are no doubts. You never 
meet a child-atheist. The very credulity of childhood is a 
great advantage. Truth is allied to innocency, and the 
child believes implicitly until deception has induced dis- 
trust. Koc that religious faith is the gift of natui*e. But 
the very aptitude to believe is favorable to the reception 
of religious truth. The child has not formed the habit of 
questioning and doubting that troubles so many adults. 
The old atheist can testify to the truth of this. 



133 
LITTLE FOLKS IN DOUBTING CASTLE ? NO THEY AIN'T. 

No sucli tiling ; not a little one or a great one disciplined 
gospelly from the earliest enkindling of life, dutifully, will be 
found in " Doubting Castle," or walking in darkness, doubts 
and fears, unstable as water, stumbling and causing others 
to stumble. They are strong in the Lord, and in the power 
of his might, mounting heavenward joyfully on eagle's 
wings, shining brighter and brighter, rising higher and 
higher to the perfect day. 

The doubters, man-fearers, time-servers, those that halt 
between two opinions, that stumble, and stumble others, 
are not among those that are gospelized all the way up. 
Far from it ; it's grace on grace, mountain high ; spread- 
ing out on the right and on the left. Talk to sinners about 
Jesus, the welfare of their souls, the need of repentance 
unto life, faith that works by love and purifies the heart, 
a godly walk and conversation, without our own souls being 
on fire, kindled to a flame, without feeling and knowing 
that our own feet are on the rock Christ Jesus, and a new 
song is in our mouth, even praise to our God ? Not a syl- 
lable of it ; such a thing never was, never will be. What ! 
go speak to this one or that one to flee the wrath to come 
— seek Jesus now^ this minute, when we are wavering, like 
a wave of the sea, tossed to and fro by every wind of doc- 
trine, or locked up in " Doubting Castle ?" Oh ! oh ! what 
wretched business ! The apostles, after receiving baptis- 
mal power on pentecostal day, flew here, flew there ; thun- 
dered here, thundered there ; flashed salvation here, salva- 
tion there. 

Be still ? hold their peace ? NTo, they couldn't. The 
very stones would have cried out. 

It is just so with little Christians disciplined gospelly, as 



134 LITTLE FOLKS IN DOUBTING CASTLE? 

all little folks should be from the first, full of faith and the 
Holy Spirit, with grace superabounding, Jesus, meantime, 
ruling and reigning in them, the hope of glory. Easy then 
to do good and communicate ; speak of heavenly things ; tell 
what great things Jesus has done and can do ; how willing 
he is to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, 
believingly? Just, as easy and delightsome as for a bird 
to fly, the eagle to soar aloft toward the sun in mid-heaven. 
Not only is it easier to run in the way of all God's com- 
mandments, but we cannot help it ; love constrains us. 
Out of the abundance of our hearts we speak. Doubt? 
ISTo time to think about doubting ; it's on, on to conquest, 
to glory ! Glory, glory, glory ! 



"THE LAMBS OF JESUS." 

" And is it true, as I am told, 
That there are lambs within the fold 

Of God's beloved Son ? 
That Jesus Christ with tender care 
Will in his arms most gently bear 

The helpless little one ? 

" And I, a little straying lamb. 
May come to Jesus as I am. 

Though goodness I have none ; 
May now be folded in his breast. 
As birds within the parent's nest, 

And be his little one ?" 



135 




THE RAVENS BRINGING ELIJAH FOOD. 

See these birds, young readers, approaching the holy- 
prophet with his daily allowance — two meals only. Turn 
to 1 Kings, xvii. 6. " And the ravens brought him bread 
and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the even- 
ing : and he drank of the brook." 

Perish for lack of food ? Who ? The righteous ? Never! 
" Trust in the Lord and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in 
the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." Psalm xxxvii. 3. 
" The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein 
forever." 

" The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord : and 
he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be 
utterly cast down : for the Lord upholdeth him with his 
hand. I have been young, and now am old ; yet have I 
not seen the ris^hteous forsaken, nor his seed besrofinoj 
bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth : and his seed is 
blessed. Depart from evil, and do good ; and dwell for 
evermore." Psalm xxxvii. 23-27. 

Elijah was bold as a lion. Fear the face of man ? Ask 
it not. " Though an host encamped against him, his heart 
did not fear." He cried aloud ; spared not. God told him 



136 THE RAVENS BRINGING ELIJAH FOOD. 

what to say, and he said it, without the least particle of 
misgiving or man-fearing. He thundered against iniquity 
in high places ; wielded the two-edged sword of God's 
truth manfully against every sin — cut and slashed. 

No daubing here ; no healing slightly here ; no conferring 
with flesh and blood here ; no bowing to popular conserva- 
tive views here ; no doctrine of expediency or compromis- 
ing with sin here. He cleared his skirts of blood ; declared 
fearlessly God's full counsel — " all the words of this life" — 
come life, come death. This is the kind of prophets, priests, 
and kings we need, must have, else we are all dead men. 
What say you, little readers and great readers, is it not 
high time to wake, rise, and shine, put on the whole armor 
of God, load and fire, load and fire ? 

" stand firm ! Oh, 'tis a high command, 

From which no Christian man should turn— 

If Satan presses hand to hand, 
A holy fire within should bm*n ; 

'Twill shield the champions of the Lord, 

Contending for His purest word." 

" A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures 
of silver." Prov. xxv. 11. 



THE BATTLE HERE, THE BATTLE THERE. 

" The battle-field is everywhere. 

Our foes lie close about our way. 
Temptation, riches, want, or care 

Renew the contest day by day ; 
And he who in the deathly fight 

Maintains his courage firm and strong, 
Who keeps his armor pure and bright, 

Shall win the victor's crown ere lons^." 



137 
LITTLE CHIIISTLA.NS ZEALOUS FOB TRUTH? 

]^ONE more so when rightly disciplined, as they should be 
from early infancy. Their zeal knows no bounds. Often 
you find them in the front of the battle, w^axing hot, wdth 
armor burnished. " Agitate ! agitate," " Go forward !" 
rings — " On ! on ! conquest or death !" 

" Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers ? or who 
will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity ?" 

Cry aloud, j^e sons of men, 

Like a trumpet lift your voice ; 
To my people show their sin, 

And the guilt of Jacob's house." 

Put their light under a bushel? JSfever ! but "on a can- 
dlestick, that it may give light to all in the house." Their 
little souls are on fire, blazingly, for the right, the true, the 
just, the merciful, the gracious, the glorious. 

Shrink from duty in public or in private, at home or 
abroad? Sooner cut olf a right hand, pluck out a right 
eye! They are constantly on the jump for truth, love, 
and mercy ; ready for every good word and work ; to 
do what God would have them, speedily. Call on them 
to pray ? they pray. To speak for Jesus ? they speak, 
open their mouths in his praise. To exhort, if need be ? 
they exhort. To give ? they give. To do errands of mer- 
cy here or there ; comfort the feeble-minded ; support the 
weak ? on the wings of the wind they go ! fly to impart 
consolation, cause the "widow's heart to sing for joy." 
They are always at their post, fully equipped for battle. 

Forward? with alacrity, cheerfully, in every duty, pub- 
lic or private ; however trying, painful, or self-denying ; 
late or early, cold or hot, rain or shine. " Lord, what wilt 



138 LITTLE CHRISTIANS ZEALOUS FOR TRUTH. 

thou have us do ?" is on their tongues evermore. The love 
of Christ constrains them. They are truly minute-men. 
AVhatever good thing their little hands find to do, they do 
it with their might ; never shrinking from duty when duty 
calls. No excuses or apologies are made for time, place, 
or circumstances. They are not only ready for the bat£le 
when the trumpet gives the certain sound, but they push 
the battle ; carry it blazingly into the very heart of the 
enemy's country. 

These are the kind of little folks and great folks we need 
— must have to meet the emergencies of the day, fight 
the good fight, lay hold on eternal life — soldiers that en- 
dure hardness. 

These lambs of the flock backslide — lose their first love ? 
Tell it not, write it not. How is it possible when follow- 
ing on to know the Lord, in the path of duty, having their 
armor bright and glistening ? There is no time for return- 
ing to the beggarly elements ; Satan finds no access, no 
lodgment. On ! on ! conquest or death ! 



BEHOLD, THE BRIDEBROOM COMETH! 

"Awake! shake ofi'thy slumbers! put thee on 
Thy beautiful garments, let thy lamp be trimmed. 
For lo, the cry, " Behold the Bridegroom cometh !" 
Is ringing in the air. Then come thou forth, 
Forth from the world with all its vanities ; 
Forth from the world with all its vileness ; 
Forth from the world that hates thy Lord and thee ; 
Make thyself ready, lo, he is at hand." 



139 



FIRE FOR LITTLE FOLKS— FIRE FOR GREAT FOLKS. 

Tell who has gospel-fire and who has not ? Yes, you 
can ; no mistake here. With a single glance of the eye, or 
the first tinkling of the ear, you can tell whether little 
folks or great folks are endued with power from on high, 
soul-kindlingly — whether or not they write in the spirit, 
pray in the spirit, sing in the spirit, preach in the spirit, 
with an eye single to God's glory. It's the fire, the holy 
fire, that tells the story. 

Isaiah — what was he till the live coal from God's altar 
was applied to his lips ? Peter could not stand for his 
Master without this fire ; he fell, and great his fall ! but 
when he received the tongue of fire, he stood boldly for 
Jesus henceforth. It is this holy fire we want, like the 
disciples after the day of Pentecost : then we fiy on wings 
of love to save a perishing world. Get your soul on fire, 
full of the subject on which yon write or speak, pressed 
down and running over. Then out it comes flamingly, 
like a bursting volcano for salvation ! 

This is the way for every one, little or big, in the pulpit 
or out of it, doing this, doing that, in the chair editorial or 
out of it. It's fire, fire ! fire ! 

Speak then, preach then, write then. Persons thus on 
fire speak because they miust speak ; speak because they 
believe, know, and feel ; speak as the Holy Spirit gives 
utterance. Then there are no long prefaces, circumlocutions, 
repetitions on repetitions, prosy perorations, or scattering 
fires that do no- execution. It is load and fire, load and 
fire! 

Will you try it, friends ? It is closet work, prayer work, 
faith work. 



140 FIRE FOK LITTLE FOLKS ANT> GREAT FOLKS. 

"An hour with God ! that he Avoald fill 
Your soul, and quicken every power 
With burning zeal to do His will, 
And with seraphic love adore." 

The closet, the closet — vim to your closet — depart not 
hence till power from on high is received, the windows of 
heaven are opened, the tongue of fire given. Then put 
down your thoughts with " the pen of a ready writer," 
thoughts life-giving, soul-riveting, that will tell on time, on 
eternity. To insert commonplace ideas is time lost, paper 
lost, all lost — worse than lost ! Oh, for red-hot thunder- 
holts of God's truth, the thunderings d^udi flashings of Mount 
Sinai, the burning, volcanic lava of holy inspiration, trans- 
piercingly powerful, to arouse the sleeping dead, and bring 
life and immortality to light. Friends, little and big, will 
you pray it, wa-ite it, flash it, thunder it ? " Where the 
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Go to your closet. 
Give yourselves Avholly to God, wrestle mightily with him, 
and never leave your knees till you receive this fire. 



LITTLE CHRISTIANS FIGHT? CERTAINLY. 

" Sure I must fight if I would reign ; 
Increase my courage. Lord ! 
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, 
Supported by thy word. 

" Thy saints, in all this glorious war, 
Shall conquer though they die : 
They see the triumph from afar 
With Faith's discerning eye." 



141 




A SON LEAVING HOME. 



Pare.nt, is this your child bidding adieu to the paternal 
roof for a season, may be forever? away from your vigi- 
lant, prayerful eye, to reside in a city where Satan prowls 
iiiglitly — where temptations, snares, and pitfalls mark every 
step ? Crisis fearful, tremblingly ! Weigh it well ! 

Perhaps the most ciitical period in the life of young 
persons, is that when they leave the lionie of a parent to 
become, for several years, inmates of some other house- 



142 A SON LEAVING HOME. 

hold. On no account should a parent place his child in 
an ungodly family. Whatever inducements of connection, 
fortune, respectability may be held out, all should be over- 
weighed by the consideration that the situation has con- 
nected with it extreme danger of the ruin of the soul. 
Many a situation promises fair for this world, that would 
be ruinous as to the world to come. To place a child in a 
situation that would endanger his eternal interests, merely 
for the sake of some temporal advantage, is cruel in the 
extreme, however kindly designed. 

Home, home ! blessed home, how dear ! 

There is no word that has so much heart-thrilling and 
sweet music in its import, as the simple, yet meaning word 
home! When roaming far from our native home in a dis- 
tant and strange land among those who are strangers to us, 
ah, many are the bright visions we call up before our 
mind ; and as they pass in rapid succession before our ever- 
busy imagination, we cannot help exclaiming, " there is no 
place like home." What are the sunny skies of Italy, 
where the noblest and greatest sons of glory first drew 
their breath, the vine-clad hills of France, where clusters 
of golden fruits grow in rich profusion, to him whose heart 
yearns for the loved ones at home, and whose prayers even 
now are ascending to his God with hope that he will be 
spared a safe return to that " sacred and holy spot," where 
his best affections twine with undying tenacity around his 
childhood's home ! 

"But, frail child of mortality, thy home is not to be al- 
ways in this world of joys and sorrows, it is but for a day ; 
it passes by and is numbered with the uncallable past. 
Here we are strangers, but God in his rich mercy bids us 
look above this sinful world to a far more glorious home 
than that of which earth can boast. 



143 
TRUSTING LITTLE FOLKS HERE, THERE, ALL ABOUT. 

TRUST THEM SAFELY? 

Certainly you can, parents, at home or abroad, in the 
city, in the country, anywhere, if well disciplined on gospel 
principles from the first dawning of infantile life. A child 
trained as he should be, as God requires, " in the way he 
should go," is proof against every temptation in the very 
midst of evil communications, the hotbeds of iniquity. A 
child moulded over and over in the gospel mould, walking 
softly, with garments unspotted, breathing constantly the 
atmosphere of heaven, is on the alert, in the way of right- 
eousness and peace, stands fast, immovable, always abound- 
ing in things good, merciful, and true — on the mountain- 
top of full salvation ! 

" Fight" is his motto. " Fight the good fight of faith, 
lay hold on eternal life." Danger of falling into sin, of 
dishonoring his profession, of returning to the beggarly el- 
ements ? Isot half the danger that there is of one born 
out of due time, whose habits of evil are deeply rooted ere 
bowing the knee to King Jesus. What child was ever 
surrounded with evil influences more fearfully corrupting 
and contaminating, soul-destroying, than little Samuel ? 
The sons of Eli were sons of Belial. The whole atmos- 
phere around was morally contagious with s]3iritual mala- 
ria, and yet he let his light shine, walked in white, kept his 
garments unspotted, had no fellowship with the unfruitfu) 
works of darkness, but rather reproved them, " cried aloud, 
spared not," showed the people their transgressions, and 
the house of Jacob their sins. He was strong in the Lord, 
and in the power of his might. One thus trained will chase 
a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight. 



144 

HOME PIETY FOR LITTLE FOLKS PERPETUAL. 
Pahent — 

" Thon canst not toil in vain ; 

Cold, heat, and moist, and dry, 
Shall foster and mature the grain 
For garners in the sky." 

One thing is certain — none educated in a home of cheer- 
ful, consistent, heart-felt piety, the love of Jesus, regener- 
ated and sanctified, can ever afterward be led to despise 
the religion of the Bible. 

A child trained from infancy's early dawnings "in the 
way he should go" till the age of maturity or the leav- 
ing the paternal roof, God says, " he vnll not depart 
from Uy 

The memory of such a home ; the echo of the songs of 
childhood ; the vision of the family altar, where once an 
unbroken band was sheltered under the wing of divine 
protection, and father, mother, sister, brother, now dead or 
far away, sang the dear old heart-hymns and joined in the 
same prayer — all these and yet more will revisit the soul, 
and keep alive the heavenly spark early enkindled, the 
love of God rooted and grounded. Parent, believest thou 
this? 

Alas for the home that sends forth its inmates into this 
perilous world with no golden links of pious remembrance 
to hold thsm by a safe home-anchor until they outride the 
storms of life ! 

Christian fathers and mothers ! tliink well of your re- 
sponsibilities. A few years will make sad changes in your 
homes. The bright and gay throng of children that peo- 
ple your house to-day will soon emerge from childhood, 
and go out from your presence to the great battle of life. 
You have not long: to train them for the task. 



145 



SHOWING THEIR COLORS, LITTLE FOLKS AND GREAT 

FOLKS. 

" Shrink from no foe, to no temptation yield, 
Urge on the triumphs of this glorious field — 
Stand up for Jesus." 

Show your colors ? Yes, you should ; little folks and 
great folks ; always, everywhere ; at home, abroad, in the 
house, and out of it ; up stairs and down ; by the wayside, 
in cars, stages, steamboats, by sea and by land, in the sanc- 
tuary, in meetings for prayer, praise, and exhortation, 
show your colors ! hoist them to the breeze ; let them 
wave. 

Never be ashamed of Jesus — the religion of the Bible. 
"Be ready always to give an answer to every man that 
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meek- 
ness and fear." 1 Pet. iii. 15. 

Speak the truth, the whole truth ; let it out, meekly, 
lovingly, boldly, in all its native force, beauty and glowing 
power and fire. Keep back any j^art of the price, heal 
slightly, prophesy smooth things, daub with untempered 
mortar, confer with flesh and blood ? Xot for worlds, ten 
thousand times ten thousands. Declare " all the words of 
this life " thunderingly, come life, come death ! " What I 
tell you in darkness," says Christ, " that speak ye in light ; 
and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on the house-top. 
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to 
kill the soul : but rather fear him which is able to destroy 
both soul and body in hell." 3Iatt. x. 27, 28. 

Go armed with Bible truth, in the form of books, tracts, 
periodicals — silent messengers that thunder and thunder^ 
flash lightning, flash against every sin in high places and 
in low; scatter the living, burning, blazing firebrands of 



146 SHOWING THEIR COLORS. 

heaven's artillery ; out with these " swords that cut and 
these heavenly fires that burn ;" in cars, omnibuses, steam- 
boats, by the wayside, from house to house, at watering 
places, and every public resort. 

Show your colors ! speak a word for your Master. Be 
sure to go prepared with a large supply of the " leaves of 
the healing of the nations ;" scatter the good seed. 

Begin early. " In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
evening withhold not thine hand." Be missionaries for 
Jesus ? who questions it ? Out and on — on and out — load, 
and fire ! load and fire ! No matter how little you are, or 
how big you are, go forward : hang out your sign ; show 
your colors ! Go forward, great hearts and little hearts, on 
fire for salvation. Glory ! glory ! glory ! ! 



ASHAMED OF JESUS? WHO? WHEN? 

"Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, 
of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall 
come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy 
angels." Jjuke, ix. 26. 

" Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him 
will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also 
deny before my Father which is in heaven. 

" Think not that I am come to send peace on earth ; I 
came not to send peace, but a sword." 

" Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to 
kill the soul ; but rather fear him who is able to destroy 
both soul and body in hell." mllatt. x. 28. 



147 




LITTLE FOLKS BUILDING ON A ROCK. 



See them at it, busy as busy can be. These are the wise 
ones, digging deep, laying a sure foundation on the Rock 
Christ Jesus. 

What now? The rains wash it away? Never. 'Ro 
matter how sweeping the rain, how fierce the winds blow; 
the clouds may gather blackness, the lightnings flashy the 
thunders crash ! all is safe, for it is founded upon a rock. 
Matt. vii. 24. 

Christ is the Rock on which his Church is built, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matt. xvi. 18. 
" Who is a rock, save our God ?" 



148 



GLANCING AT THE DARK SIDE OF THE PICTURE. 

Hitherto we have passed ovei* briefly the duties of pa- 
rents — what God requires of them, and what a little heaven 
a family is when trained for heaven — glory on glory — 
as very family should be. On this beautiful, bright side 
of the picture, gladly would we dwell forever ; but painful 
as it is, we must, for a little space, view the dark side 
of it; point out the hindrances to family order, peace, joy, 
salvation. 

Unhappy or discordant marriages; being "unequally 
yoked." God is disobeyed in. the outset. This is the chief 
cause of the multiplied, unscriptural divorces. God is not 
honored ; duly acknowledged in the married relation, ^o 
w^onder a curse follows it, instead of a blessing. 

" How can two walk together except they be agreed ?" 

What can be hoped for when husband and wife disagree, 
but disorder, confusion, and recklessness in the family 
circle ? 

Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to des- 
olation. And every city or house divided against itself 
shall not stand." Matt. xii. 25. 

2. Another hindrance to family order and scriptural 
training, is idolatry ; placing our affections unduly on ob- 
jects forbidden. " Thou shalt have no other gods before 
me ;" " Set your affections on things above, and not on 
things upon the earth." 

How frequently, in mercy, does God snatch the idol from 
the mother's fond embrace to save the souls of both child 
and mother ! 

Should the child be permitted to live, ten to one it would 
prove a curse instead of a blessing. 



GLANCING AT THE DARK SIDE OF THE PICTUEE. 149 

3. Another cause of failure in family culture, is the early 
and continued dedication process is not duly considered. 
Hannah, the mother of Samuel, understood this practically. 

When a child is born into the world, what the first 
thing ? dedication ? presenting it to the Lord, a living sac- 
rifice, holy, and acceptable, as a reasonable^ perpetual ser- 
vice ? This child is not ours, but the Lord's, bought with 
a price infinite ! " Take this child away and nurse it for 
me, and I will give thee thy wages." Mc. ii. 9. 

4. Sickly charity, or false tenderness, is another stone of 
stumbling, a rock of offence. What does this lead to? 
healing slightly, daubing with untempered mortar, confer- 
ring with flesh and blood — "crying peace, peace, when 
there is no peace." Jacob stumbled here, so did Eli, so 
did David, and multitudes on multitudes, which no man 
can number. 

5. Idolatry in dress, the tipping off, the wimples and crisp- 
ing pins, the artificial and gewgaws, the gold, the pearls, the 
costly array. Do mothers know they are planting thorns 
in the pillows of their precious little ones for life, when 
they imitate the world in gay and fashionable costume? 
The seeds of pride and vanity are sown m the first bud- 
dings of infancy ! 

Gospel purity and simplicity in personal adornments 
should begin in the nursery — the very cradle of existence ; 
2indi on forever. " Pride goeth before destruction." How 
many (who can tell ?) are weeping and wailing, where hope 
never comes, in consequence of this one false step — pride 
of life, folly and fashion — ^begun and fostered in early 
childhood ! - 

6. Another failure in training as God requires is, not 
subduing the will at once. The very instant the serpent 
self is manifested, the finger should be laid on the spot of 



150 gla:n^cixg at the daek side of the pictuke. 

this leprosy. The first movings of ill-temper in a child 
should be checked, not suffered to live and breathe a single 
moment. This secret of all secrets, is the golden key to 
salvation here, salvation forever. When the will is thor- 
oughly subdued, brought into sweet, heavenly, lamb- 
like subjection, then many innocent indulgences may be 
granted, which otherwise might prove ruinous. 

The will of every son and daughter should be so com- 
pletely under the control of the parent, that a single word, 
a nod, a look, the lifting of the finger, would suffice to com- 
mand instant and cheerful obedience. 

7. Another prevalent hindrance to holy, heavenly family 
discipline, is the almost entire absence of Gospel purity j 
a holy atmosphere in the family circle. " Example kills, 
example cures." Parents do not preach to their children 
daily, hourly, momentarily, by a holy walk and conversa- 
tion, lying down, rising up, going out, and coming in, by 
fvery look, thought, word, action. Their example gives 
the lie to their profession ; and their little ones become 
hardened in sin. Children perish — go down to the pit, 
from the very gate of heaven ! 

The first thing in " rearing the tender thought" is " holi- 
ness to the Lord," written on our foreheads, our door-posts, 
and upon our gates. 

8. There is not talking enough about Jesus, heaven, the 
way of life, salvation on salvation, rising up, lying down, 
going out, and coming in, at the fireside, around the table at 
meal-times, morning, noon, and at night. See Deut. 
vi. 7-9. 

The souls of parents are not alive in God — on fire. " Out 
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." 

9. Again, the habits of industry are not duly inculcated. 
Every child should be busily occupied in something in- 



GLAXCIXG AT THE DARK SIDE OF THE PICTURE. 151 

teresting, useful, praiseworthy — that counts for mercy; 
mercy on mercy. 

10. Another special reason why so few children submit 
to gospel requisition is, ministers from the sacred desk 
overlook these lambs. They seem to forget that children 
have souls at all. They make no special preparation to 
give a portion in due season to the little ones. They come 
and go, go and come, neglected, disregarded. They sit 
listless, restless, careless, wearied in the house of God, long- 
ing for the Amen ! Is this gospel ? 

11. Once more. The letting out of waters, the greatest 
of all hindrances in taking little children directly to Jesus, 
is lack of faith. " According to y our faith, so be it unto 

you." 

Not a step is taken in the right direction in household 
duty without confidence in the promises of God, a firm be- 
lief It is our duty and privilege to train our children 
" in the way they should go," from early infancy, with the 
assurance that from this heavenly training they will not 
depart, that it is the will of our heavenly Father these 
children of ours should be sanctified from their birth, and 
grow up in the Lord. 

Parents must also believe that the Lord holds them re- 
sponsible for the character, conduct, and salvation of those 
delivered to them in trust. 

Alas ! how few parents believe this ! 

The false idea is almost universal, that children are to 
grow up in sin for future conversion. Therefore very little 
special, direct effort is made by parents to- take their 
children in the earliest dawnings of moral accountability, 
to Jesus, for the washing of regeneration, the purification 
of their souls, that their garments may be unspotted — made 
white in the blood of the Lamb. 

m 



152 




LITTLE FOLKS BUILDING ON A SxiNDY FOUNDATION. 



BUST ARE THET HERE, LITTLE AND BIG? 



" There is a way wJiich seemeth right unto a mart, hut the ends thereof are the ways 
of deathy Frov. xiv. 12. 

That's right — away with idlers, snails, and drones. 
Give us the workers, the go-ahead folks. Off with your 
gloves, mittens, ruffles, silks, and satins — strij3 to it. 
" Work while the day lasts, for the night cometh wherein 
no man shall work." 

But wljat are these busy folks about ? Building a house ? 



LITTLE FOLKS BUILDING ON A SANDY FOUNDATION. 153 

Where — on a rock or on the sand? If on a rock, with 
foundation deep, it will stand, though the rains descend, 
floods come sweepingly, and the winds blow fiercely, ter- 
ribly, hurricane-like ! 

But if these little builders are building on the sand — 
what now, when the rains come, the floods dash and over- 
flow, the winds sweep all before them ? Oh ! oh ! what a 
fall ! Well, it is just so when little folks and great folks 
build their hopes for eternity on a false foundation, as 
many do, without true repentance, faith in the Lord Jesus, 
and a godly walk and conversation. Woe / woe ! WOE ! 
to these mistaken souls. 

" He that loveth me, keepeth my commandments." 
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his com- 
mandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 

They are like the foolish virgins, who took their lamps but 
took no oil in them. When the marriage feast was ready 
they entered fiot in. When they cried, " Lord, Lord, open 
to us !" the reply was, " Verily I say unto you, I know you 
not." Matt. XXV. 11, 12. . 

" Many will say unto me in that day. Lord, Lord, have 
we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out 
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? 
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you ; 
depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matt. vii. 22, 23. 
" Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the 
will of my Father who is in heaven." 



" The day cometh that shall burn as an oven ; and all the 
proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble." 

7* 



154 

SUFFERING LITTLE FOLKS TO COME TO JESUS. 

" Little feet may find the pathway 
Leading upward unto God, 
Little hands may learn to scatter 
Seeds of precious truth abroad." 

' Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the 
kingdom of heaven. Matt, xix. 14, 

Maek the expression, " little children f^ not big ones, but 
little ones. No matter how little they are for Jesus to take 
in his arms. Heaven is made up largely of " little folks." 

Myriads of these redeemed spirits surround the throne of 
God, tuning their little harps in praise, singing hallelujahs 
to the Lamb who loved them and gave himself for them — 
washed them and made them white in his own precious 
blood. 

" Around the throne of God in heaven, 
Thousands of children stand ; 
Children whose sins are all forgiven, 
A holy, happy band, * 

Singing, Glory, Glory, 
Glory be to God on high," 
• 

The thought is pleasing, joyous, that in the kingdom of 
heaven there are little children ; that they form a large part 
of God's redeemed family. The thought is pleasing to 
every Christian ; but to the bereaved parent, the parent of 
children " passed into the skies," it is more than pleasing — 
it is sustaining, delightful, enrapturing. 

Yea, verily. The child to a fond parent's eye is beauti- 
ful in death ; but it will be more beautiful, more precious, 
when seen planted a brilliant diadem of the Sun of Right- 
eousness. 

No little ones are saved in heaven, or can be, except 
through the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, the Lamb 
slain. 



SUFFEKING LITTLE FOLKS TO COME TO JESUS. 155 

Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. 

*' Christ is the way, the life, the light. 
His Spirit seals the truth aright, 
The Avay that points to endless life." 

Parents dear, are you suffering your little ones to come 
to Christ, or forbidding them ? 

1. You hinder or forbid them if you do not believe Christ 
is able and willing to take them to his bosom, embrace 
them, mould them into his own blessed image or likeness, 
make them meet for heaven, glory eternal. 

2. You hinder or forbid them to come to Jesus, refuse to 
place them in the arms of the dear Saviour, when, you 
neglect to examine the sacred records, the blessed hope set 
before you in the gospel, the great and precious promises 
in the Holy Scriptures respecting the present and eternal 
salvation of these lovely little ones of yours. God in his 
word hath given line upon line, precept on precept, from 
Genesis to Revelation, on the question before us ; and it is 
the imperative duty of every father and mother to search 
this blessed volume of inspu*ation for the special object of 
holy nurture ; and so far as parents omit to open their eyes 
to this light that shineth in a dark place, so far they 
bar the door of redeeming, sanctifying grace to their off- 
spring. 

3. Parents do not suffer those placed under their charge 
to come to Jesus, when they do not use all the means 
ordained by high heaven for their immediate salvation. 

4. Parents hinder the salvation of their " little ones," do 
not permit them to come to Jesus, when they do not walk 
before them in newness of life, preseut their own bodies a 
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is their rea- 
sonable service. 



156 SUFFEEING LITTLE FOLKS TO COME TO JESUS. 

Holiness must be written upon our own foreheads, our 
gates and door-posts, in the inmost recesses of the heart. 

There is no possibility of parents taking their offspring 
to Jesus in the arms of faith and love, while remaining in 
unbelief, unconsecrated, unholy. " If I regard iniquity in 
my heart, the Lord will not hear me." All the examples 
recorded in the word of God, of consistent family training, 
are those eminently Godward, on the altar of sacrifice. 
Abraham was a holy man, the father of the faithful. The 
mother of Moses was a holy woman, strong in faith, giving 
glory to God. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, was a godly 
woman, distinguished for her devotedness to the Lord. 
Her 'soul was on fire! to do the whole will of her Creator. 
Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, 
were wholly given up to God's service, walking in all his 
commandments and ordinances blameless. And they were 
thus consecrated at the very time of God's mercy in giving 
them a son, filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth. 
The mother and grandmother of Timothy were evidently 
influenced solely by wisdom from above, prayerfully dili- 
gent in searching the Scriptures, through which medium 
Timothy became wise unto salvation. 

We see clearly that nothing short of the entire sanctifi- 
catiou of soul, spirit, and body will meet the emergency of 
the case. 

Finally, we see God's willingness to embrace little folks, 
take them to his arms of love and mercy. Parent, believest 
thou this ? 



Teach a child to think for himself, by which he can learn 
how to learn, which is the cream of all instruction, whether 
in school or out. 



157 



FORBID NOT LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME TO JESUS. 

*- 

Jesus took little children in his arms, blessed them, and 
said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 

There was a time when the Divine One stood on earth, 
and little children sought to 4raw near to him. But a hu- 
man being stood between him and them, forbidding their 
approach. Ah ! has it not often been so ? do not even we, 
with our hard and unsubdued feelings, stand like a dark 
cloud between our little child and its Saviour, and keep 
even from the choice buds of our hearts the sweet radiance 
which might unfold it for Paradise ? " Suffer little chil- 
dren to come unto me, and forbid them not," is still the 
voice of the Son of God ; but the cold world still closes 
around and forbids. When of old, disciples would question 
their Lord of the higher mysteries of his kingdom, he took 
a little child and set him in the midst, as a sign of him who 
should be greatest in heaven. That gentle teacher re- 
mains still to us. By every hearth and fireside Jesus still 
sets the little child in the midst of us. 

Wouldst thou know, O parent, what is that faith which 
unlocks heaven ? Draw to thy bosom thy little one, and 
read in that clear, trusting eye the lesson of eternal life. 
Be to thy God as thy child is to thee. Blessed shalt thou 
be, indeed, " when the little child shall lead thee," and thou 
shalt cry to God, " My Father." 



He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction : but he 
that refuseth reproof erreth. Prov. x. 1 7. 



158 




THE LITTLE GIRL, THOUGHTLESS AKD HEEDLESS. 



Don't she look like it ? Oh, what a pity ! Mother, 
take care of this heedless one of yours. Children left 
to themselves plunge headlong into all manner of things 
mischievous and ruinous to body and soul. Every step of 
these waywards is fraught with danger imminent. 

Mothers beloved, think of it, lay it to heart. The fault 
is yours mainly. One of the . saddest evils of the present 
day is false tenderness, permitting little ones to " live as 
thev list." 



THE LITTLE GIKL, TUOUGHTLESS AND HEEDLESS. 159 

Little folks choose for themselves? No, they can't ; no 
such thing. They cannot, ought not. To say, let a child 
remain without any religious instruction, that when grown 
up he may choose for himself, unbiased by prejudice and 
education, evinces great wickedness, or total ignorance of 
the principles of moral development. The child inherits 
from sinful parents a strong bias or inclination to evil, and 
unless counteracting influences are brought to bear upon 
him, he will as surely contract sinful habits, as the wild 
beast becomes ferocious if his nature is not softened 
while young by the gentle voice and winning treatment 
of man. 

A child's education begins as soon as it enters upon a 
conscious existence. The spirit of those surrounding the 
helpless infant, breathing accents of tenderness and love, 
or uttering words of impatience and anger, is impressing 
that highly sensitive heart with good or evil. By the 
tones of her voice the mother can cause the child of a few 
days old to laugh or cry. She can awaken emotions of hap- 
piness and love, or inspire fear and hatred. " The mind of 
every child must and will be growing and strengthening 
every day ; and daily, too, will it receive new impressions 
and new thoughts. These must educate the mind ; and 
the child who sees his parents and teachers careless about 
religion and ignorant of God and his government is not 
left to choose for himself; he is educated to forget his 
Maker and trample on his laics and commands. 

Many suppose religion adapted only to mature minds ; 
but the love of God infused into the soul by simple faith in 
Christ is the native atmosphere, the pure nutriment of a 
child's mind and heart. The child is not to be a heathen 
first and a Christian afterward ; but its life is to be devel- 
oped from its very incipiency under Christian influences. 



160 



HOLY FATHERS AKD HOLY MOTHERS. 

All right ; this must be in family discipline to secure 
the little ones on the side of glory. And yet holiness 
merely, is insufficient. 

Parent, in training your household, a perfect example 
will not suffice; something more is required. You may 
live holy as an angel, spotless as Gabriel, and yet, unless 
you obey God in restraining your children from evil, in 
subduing their wills, bringing every unholy passion into 
sweet, heavenly, lamb-like submission — what avail ? 

Eli, doubtless, was a priest of God, exemplary in his 
daily walk, upright in his general deportment, ministered 
acceptably at God's altar, and yet, "his sons were vile." 
Wherefore ? " he restrained them not." And for this one 
omission of duty, the most terrible judgments came upon his 
whole house. The Lord held him responsible for the con- 
duct of his children; their sins were laid to his charge. 
Hark ! " In that day I will perform against Eli all things 
which I have spoken concerning his house ; when I begin, 
I also will make an end. For I have told him that I will 
judge his house forever, for the iniquity which heknoweth, 
because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained 
them not." 

We knew, personally, a beloved minister of the Gospel, 
whose whole life was Godward, full of faith and the Holy 
Spirit, a warm and successful advocate of the doctrine of 
holiness, entire sanctification in this life. His lovely com- 
panion — the wife of his bosom — walked in the same steps 
of Gospel purity and simplicity. The family altar was 
kept burning brightly, morning and evening ; the sacred 
Scriptures were searched daily ; the atmosphere around 
them was heavenly. And yet, notwithstanding all these 



HOLY FATHERS AND HOLY MOTHERS 161 

hallowed influences and Christian graces beaming radiantly 
in this family circle, the sons and daughters of these pa- 
rents were impenitent sinners ; as they grew in stature they 
grew in pride, folly, and self-will ; in conscience-searedness, 
in loving pleasures more than in loving God. Why so ? 
Those lovely, God-fearing parents were falsely tender, in- 
dulged their little ones in things foolish and vain, gratified 
their passions and appetites to excess ; permitted them to 
mingle with evil associates at home and abroad. Instead 
of inculcating early, the habits of industry and sobriety, 
employing their time in things useful and benevolent, re- 
deeming golden moments, they Ave^-e allowed to idle about 
in the street-school. And certain it is, that 

" Satan finds some mischief still 
For idle hands to do." 

These parents are now reaping the bitter fruits of this 
neglect. They sowed to the wind, and are now reaping 
the whirlwind. " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
also reap." " The rod and reproof give wisdom ; but a 
child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." Prov. 
xxix. 15. And oh! what drawback is more seriously det- 
rimental to a minister's success in preaching the everlast- 
ing Gospel, than a family of unruly children, gospel- 
hardened. Household discipline, training children in the 
fear of God, in the way they should go, is one of the first 
and most important qualifications of a Gospel minister; 
" having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly." 
" One that ri^leth well in his own house, having his children 
in subjection with all gravity." "For if a man know not 
how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the 
church of God ?" 1 Tim. iii. 2-5. 



162 




MORE BUSY FOLKS— BUSY AS BEES. 

The bees are busy, and these little folks are busy, as you 
Fee in the picture. But what are they doing — ^busy about ? 
Good things, or things naughty ? We may be busy about 
trifles, things of no value. No one, little or big, has any 
right to be busy a single moment except for God-service, 
making the world better and happier, of diffusing light, 
hope, joy, peace, salvation. 

No parent should allow his little ones a single moment 
on trifles light as air. No period of life is so valuable, 
momentously important, as that of childhood. Habits 
formed in the early dawnings of the springtime of life are 
" Apples of gold in pictures of silver," or gall and worm- 
wood — the apples of Sodom. 



" Work, work, nor covet an ignoble rest ; 

Allow no sloth thy spirit to beguile. 
Those love the Saviour most who serve him best ; 
And he who blesses others shall be bless'd 

With the full sunshine of his Saviour's smile." 



MORE BUSY FOLKS BUSY AS BEES. 163 

One special object of the benevolent Robert Raikes, in 
founding the Sabbath-school, was to keep children and 
youth from idleness, dissipation, and petty thefts. He 
saw with tearful eye, in his own native city (Gloucester, 
England), children from six to twelve years of age of the 
lowest class, running wild in the streets, without employ- 
ment, ^-unrestrained, trampling on holy time, stretching 
every nerve in the service of their old master, the devil, 
sinning as with a cart-rope, drinking iniquity as the ox 
drinketh water, rambling through the city, fields, and 
forests, uttering blasphemies, robbing orchards, gardens, 
and hen-roosts. The first idea of this noble man of God 
was to keep these sons of Belial from mischief, to snatch 
them as brands irom eternal burnings, by placing them 
under pious and competent teachers, both in the forenoon 
and afternoon on the Lord's day. These teachers were 
paid twenty-two cents per day for their services. 

Had there been no higher motives in view than instruct- 
ing these desperadoes in the art of reading, the use of the 
catechism, and in leading them to the house of God, this 
blessed man would have been amply compensated for all 
the sacrifices of money and labor expended. 

Look at the busy bodies in the street-school, the school 
of Satan, the highway to ruin ! What lessons are early 
taught in this seminary, what habits formed, rooted, and 
grounded? There is not a sin, however gross, shameful, 
vile, polluting, and degrading, soul-destroying, that is not 
imbibed, inculcated. 

This school, of all others, tends to sear the conscience, 
harden the heart, and pave the way to every species of 
vice and high-handed iniquity. 



164 
THE MOTHEK'S FALSE STEP. 

APPEALING TO THE FATHER'S AUTHORITY. 

" The wounds I might have heal' d ! 
The human sorrow and smart ! 
And yet it was never in my soul ^ 

To play so ill a part. 
But evil is wrought by want of thought, 
As well as by a want of heart." 

Mothers have you done it ! do you do it, ever f What ! 
appeal to your husband for commanding influence in house- 
hold duty, in restraining a wayward or disobedient son or 
daughter ? Have you failed hitherto iff family govern- 
ment ? Had you, from early infancy, obeyed God in rear- 
ing the tender thought, educating your little ones,- curbed 
their passions, subdued their wills, brought them into sweet, 
heavenly, lamb-like submission, a single nod of yours, a 
wink of the eye, the softest whisper, would command per- 
fect, instant obedience. 

Every mother has it in her power, through grace divine, to 
rule and reign joyfully and triumphantly in the domestic 
circle, to make her house a little Eden — a Paradise below. 

Whenever and wherever you hear or see a mother ap- 
pealing to her better-half for governmental aid in the fami- 
ly, touching unruly urchins, rest assured of error, mistake — 
sad, lamentable ! 



My son, forget not my law ; but let thy heart keep my 
commandments; for length of days, and long life, and 
peace shall they add to thee. Prov. iii. 1, 2. 



165 




BAD, BAD, BAD! TERRIBLE! 

Did you ever see anything equal this, young readers? 
Can it be possible these children have been rightly disci- 
plined all the way up, on principles virtuous, pure, heav- 
enly? 

" Whatever brawls disturb the street, 
There should be peace at home ; 
Where sisters dwell and brothers meet. 
Quarrels should never come. 

" Birds in their little nests agree. 
And 'tis a shameful sight. 
When children of one family 
Fall out, and chide, and fight." 



166 BAD, BAD, bad! TERRIBLE ! 

Troublesome children are very troublesome ; trouble- 
some at home, troublesome abroad. They give their pa- 
rents and teachers trouble — trouble here, trouble there. 
Troublesome children are troublesome everywhere. One 
disobedient, self-willed upstart disturbs a whole family, 
a whole neighborhood. " One sinner destroyeth much 
good." 

Parents, do you realize what evil is caused through your 
instrumentality, in neglecting to obey God in training your 
little ones in the way they should go, in the fear and ad- 
monition of the Lord ? Were the curse of your neglect or 
sin of omission to fall upon your own head merely, it 
would be comparatively trivial ; but, alas, you entail 
wretchedness, misery, and ruin upon multitudes living, and 
may be upon multitudes yet unborn ! There is no calcu- 
lating the evil resulting from this disobedience to Heaven's 
high mandate. Eternity must reveal it. The evil goes on 
through time, through eternity ! 



EVIL HABITS CLING FOR LIFE. 

" Habits are soon assumed ; but when we strive 
To strip them off, 'tis being flay'd alive. 
Call'd to the temple of impure delight, 
He that abstains— -and he alone — does right. 
Some dream that they can silence when they will 
The storms of passion, and say. Peace ; be still. 
But thus far, and no further, Avhen address'd 
To the wild wave, or wilder human breast, 
Implies authority that never can. 
That never oucrht to be the lot of man." 



167 



WHAT BAD BOYS COST. 



PENNT WISE AND POUND TOOLISH. 



" WTioso walketh u'prightly sJiall be saved : hut M that isxierterse in his ways shaU 
faU at once.''' Prov. xxviii. 18. 

" There is a path that leads to God ; 
All others go astray." 

If we will not be our brother's keeper, our brother will 
be a perpetual torment and disgrace to us. 

The Rev. Mr. Jackson mentioned at a meeting, a short 
time since, a case in which a boy of only fourteen years 
had been ten times in prison, and had cost the public 
£400 in prosecuting and punisliing him; leaving him just 
as bad, or rather, we fear, worse than before. Had that 
lad been rightly educated in the path of duty and holiness, 
as all children should be, he might have become a useful 
member of the community, instead of turning out as he 
did, a nuisance and a pest. It would have saved thousands 
of pounds in poor-rates, police-rates, jail-rates, and the ex- 
penses of criminal prosecution. Nor does the cost stop 
here ; the mischief and the ruin go on and on from genera- 
tion to generation, till the Angel from heaven swear " time 
shall be no longer." " One sinner destroyeth much good." 

There is another case mentioned of a boy only thirteen 
years of age, who was ten times imprisoned, and cost the 
public two thousand dollars to prosecute and punish, and 
leaving him, quite likely, much worse than ever. But is 
this all that he cost ? How many other boys did he cor- 
rupt ? And what will their wickedness cost ? We must 
not only count the money ^ but enumerate other items and 
expenses. A bad boy costs himself a great deal of trouble, 



168 WHAT BAD BOYS COST. 

passion, enmity, and strife ; tie loses friends, honor, self- 
respect, and often his health. He costs his parents much 
vexation, even if they themselves are also bad; but if they 
are pious, he costs them more anguish and sorrow than can 
be computed. He costs the morals of others ; that is, his 
bad example and influence deprave other persons, and cost 
them virtue, and trutli, and religion. But this is not all. 
What good might he have done, had he been a good boy ? 
He might have grown up a good merchant, mechanic, 
writer, an orator, a minister of the Gospel, added wealth, 
honor, worth, and salvation to the community. He might 
have been a great and good man, a benefactor to his race. 
l^ut all this is lost. And still there is a greater cost. 
Think of it, had boys ! Think of it, parents, teachers, and 
law-makers. The final, infinite, and eternal cost of the bad 
boy is the loss of his soul^ because lohere God dwells he 
never can come. 

" If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who 
will not obey the voice of his father or mother, and that 
when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them, 
all the men of the city shall stone him with stones, that he 
die ; so shalt thou put evil away from among you." Deut. 
xxi. 18. 

" Have we not heard what dreadful plagues 
Are threaten'd by the Lord, 
To him who breaks his father's law. 
Or mocks his mother's word ?" 



Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend 
to know understandinoj. Prov. iv. 1. 



169 
HOME WOKK— WORK AT HOME. 

MEETING OF DATS FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS. — A HINT TO MINISTERS AND MINIS- 
TERS' CHILDREN. 

Hold a protracted meeting in your own house — a meet- 
ing of days ? By all means, brother minister, if you have 
ungodly children, unconverted, in the gall of bitterness and 
in the bonds of iniquity. Cease your efforts abroad in soul- 
saving, and appoint a special meeting at your own house 
for the couAdction and conversion of your impenitent sons 
and daughters on the road to ruin. Call in your pious 
friends and neighbors, tl^se that have power with God, 
are full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Pray and preachy 
preach and pray, " be instant in season, out of season, re- 
prove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." 
Cease not till every soul under your roof — sons and daugh- 
ters, man-servants and maid-servants — are on the side of 
mercy, converted to God, set apart exclusively God ward, 
bright and shining lights, the salt of the earth. Then, you 
have a household of preachers, salvation at home, salvation 
abroad. 

What ! go abroad, here and there, far and near, ex- 
horting sinners to repent, do works meet for repentance, 
meanwhile your own house is disorderly, hurly-burly, topsy- 
turvy, confusion worse confused ! Awful ! Friends, be- 
loved, begin at home, where charity begins, set your own 
house in order, disciple it. " Thou, therefore, who teachest 
another, teachest thou not thyself?" 

. Strange, is it, not, marvellously, that some evangelists are 
strenuous in the doctrines of repentance, faith, and a holy 
life, labor unceasingly abroad for the salvation of souls, 
while at the same time some three, four, six, or eight bap- 
tized infidels are on the way to perdition everlasting before 

8 



170 HOME WORK. 

their eyes, day in, day out, lying down, rising up, going 
out, and coming in ? Oh ! what glaring, outstanding, un- 
heard of inconsistency ! What are we coming to — nigh 
unto burning ? 

Stop short f Soon as p^ossible ; delay not. Cease your 
special labors in saving sinners abroad, and bend the whole 
energies of your soul in the salvation of your own house- 
hold. Call every member of your family together ; humbte 
yourself in their presence ; confess your sins, your awful 
wickedness, blood-guilty, in neglecting to obey God hith- 
erto in one of the most important requisitions that ever 
issued from the majesty of High Heaven. Tell the little 
ones and the big ones, weepinglf , how great your guilt is 
in this sin of omission. Take the Bible, open it in their 
presence, and let God speak in tones of thunder what he 
requires of both parents and children. Now, noio hasten, 
run with your censer, stay the plague. 

" Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken 
than the fat of rams." 

*' There is a way that seemeth right unto a man^ Hjt the 
end thereof are the ways of death." Prov. xiv. 12. 



OBEDIENCE TO PARENTS. 

It has sometimes been said that disobedience to parents 
is the beginning of all crime. If this is true, and to a great 
extent it undoubtedly is, how important that the habit of 
disobedience should never be formed ! Beware, young 
reader, how you disobey the slightest command of your 
parents, for it will lead you to disobey others, and then to 
disobey the laws of your country and the laws of God. 



171 




ELI AND SAIilUEL. 



Oh ! oh ! boys and girls, who are these, do you know ? 
Eli and Samuel ? Certainly ! Turn to 1 Samuel and read 
the chapter through and through; it tells all about it, from 
first to last. All about that blessed boy, the subject of 
many prayers ; also concerning Hannah, his dear mother, a 
woman of a meek and quiet spirit, of strong faith, prayer 
unceasing. She had sorrow of heart, a good deal ; severe 
trials, fiery onsets ; and who has not that obeys God, labors 
for Jesus, fights the good fight lay^ hold on eternal 
life ? She told the Lord what she would do if he would 
give her a male child. Did she perform her vow ? Every 
syllable of it punctiliously. AYhat the result — glory? 
Yes, glory on glory, forever andi forever ! Was there ever 
such a man as this same priest and judge ? The very 
heavens shook terribly, gathered blackness ; the rains de- 
scended, the thunders crashed, the lightnings flashed, in 
answer to his prayers. Turn again if you please, little 
readers, to 1 Samuel xii. 16, 17, 18. 

Samuel greio up in the Lord (just as all little folks 
should) bright and shining as grace could make him. 



172 ELI AND SAMUEL. 

Suppose all mothers would take just the course Hannah 
did in family training, can you guess what glorious things 
would be ? All heaven ring melodiously ? Undoubtedlj^ ! 
with songs seraphic ! 

Child-ridden? Certainly parents are. It's shocking to 
think of it. 

The divine order is that the parents shall rule ; and that 
they may do it lovingly and wisely, children should be 
born into an atmosphere of love. Such is the beauty and 
blessedness of wise paternal rule, that good kings and gov- 
ernors have been called the fathers of their people ; but if 
law should fall into disrepute, the nation sinks into ruin. 
The same is true of families. A household in which the 
parents are subject to the whims and caprices of their chil- 
dren, is a legitimate object of pity and contempt. This 
pitiable state of things we see on every side. This tyranny 
of children begins early. Its first forjn is unchecked pas- 
sion and unresisted dictation. Thus started wath a fair 
field before it, it blooms out into extravagant demands for 
spending-money, for costly dress, for attendance upon fash- 
ionable amusements, theatres, operas, dances, and the like. 
The boys go and come when they please ; carry night-keys 
in their pockets, come in at midnight, sleep late in the 
morning, get to school after the time, if at all, break their 
education up into useless bits, and become fast young men 
long before they come of age. The girls have scarcely so 
good a chance for the display of their independence, and 
often grieve that they were not born boys. They are re- 
solved, however, to do all that the proprieties of their girl- 
hood will permit. 

Sight pitiable, lamentable, soul-ruinous; but so it is;- far 
and near parents are child-ridden, ruled with a rod of iron, 
and submit tamely ! 



1*73 



"THE OLD OAKEN BUCKET." 

Have you not heard of it, little readers, over and over ? 
Well, here it is. 

" That moss-cover'd vessel I hail'd as a treasure, 

For often at noon, when return'd from the field, 
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, 

The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. 
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing, 

And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell ; 
Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing. 

And dripping with coolness it rose from the well — 
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket. 
The moss-covered bucket, arose from the well." 



Pure cold water, sweetened with icicles, is the best 
drink. Children should drink the pure water. Away with 
tea and coffee. If you would have the bright eye and clear 
cheek, drink nothing but cool water. 



114: 

HOME DUTIES— THE MOTHER AND THE LAMBS. 

Discreet keeper's at home. Titus, ii. 5. 

Mothers, how are you getting on with the little folks ? 
is everything in the nursery orderly, peaceful, joyous? 
the dining-room, and the parlor, up stairs and down ? Are 
the children, from the least to the greatest, sweet as 
Heaven can make them, baptized sj^iritually, meek, humble, 
lamb-like ? 

At table during meals, is it clock-work, at the fireside 
also, and around the family altar ? Yerj well, branch off 
scatter the good seed, preach here, preach there. But re- 
member, " Charity begins at home." Home duties first, 
last, always. 

What is religion ? 

" Is it to go to Church to-day, 
To look devout and seem to pray ? 
Does every sanctimonious face, 
Denote the certain reign of grace ?" 

We may become religiously dissipated — many do. Some 
mothers — lovely, kind, good — are j^ious overmuch ; that 
leave home, bed and board, week in and week out, the year 
round, for what ? To preach ? Yes ! exhort sinners to 
repentance, faith, hope, joy, life eternal; while at the same 
time, their own homes are full of little sinners, and very 
likely to become very great sinners ! Is this in the order 
of God's providence, mercy, and truth ? 

Where the " thus saith the Lord," for running before we 
are sent, of '* going to war at our own charges ?" There 
is a zeal without knowledge. " If a man strive for mas- 
teries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully." 

Close the lips of our dear sisters, who walk circumspectly 
in newness of life ? Heaven forbid ! they are the salt of 



HOME DUTIES. 1V5 

the earth, cities set on hills, light-houses, " Apples of gold 
in jjictures of silver." They are prophets in very deed. 
But, sisters in the Lord, let your zeal be tempered with 
knowledge, your piety commend itself beautifully, sym- 
metrically. One duty should never interfere with another ; 
and of all duties none are more vitally important than home 
duties. Spurgeon says : " I have no faith in that woman 
who talks of grace and glory abroad and neglects her chil- 
dren at home. I have no faith in the religion of women 
who spend time in laboring to reform others and neglect 
their own households. Dirty rooms, slatternly gowns, 
and children with unwashed faces, are swift witnesses 
against the sincerity of those who keep others' vineyards and 
neglect their own. I have no faith in that woman who talks 
of grace and glory abroad, and uses no soap and water at 
home. Let the buttons be on the shirts, let the children's 
socks be mended, let the roast mutton be done to a turn, 
let the house be as neat as a new pin, and the home be as 
happy as home can be ; and then, when the cannon balls, 
and the shots, and even the grains of sand, are all in the 
box, even then there will be room for those little deeds of 
love and faith which, in my Master's name, I seek of you 
who love his appearing. Serve God by doing common 
actions in a heavenly spirit, and then, if your daily calling 
only leaves you cracks and crevices of time, fill these up 
with holy service. To use the Apostle's words, *As we 
have opportunity, let us do good unto all men.' " 

" Some women will spend a whole day," says Rev. C. G. 
Finney, " at a prayer-meeting, to pray for the conversion of 
the world, while their sons and their daughters at home 
are neglected and Christless, their impenitent servant in the 
kitchen is not spoken to all the day long, and perhaps not 
in a month, to save her soul." 



176 HOME DUTIES. 



' Shall Wisdom cry aloud, 
And not her voice be heard ' 



It is sad, grievous indeed, to witness the mistakes of some 
good folks in their calling ! Mothers beloved, seek first 
the kingdom of God at home ; set your own houses in order; 
keep them in order. Get your own souls on fire, holily, 
and see to it that your sons and your daughters are on the 
life list, salvation's — beautifully, God-fearing ; ornamentals 
in all that is pure, lovely, Christ-like ; " Olive-plants around 
your table." Then you can preach and icill preach power- 
fully at home and wherever the Lord in his providence 
calls you. Your little ones, lambs of the flock, walking in 
newness of life, examples of whatsoever is true, honest, just, 
pure, lovely, and of good report, will preach as you preach, 
say, " amen.'^'* 



TRAINING CHILDREN. 

Mothers, train your daughters to he mothers. Think 
what a mother ought to be in every relation of life — social, 
domestic, public, at home and abroad, by day and by night. 
Think of Washington's mother, Samuel's, Timothy's, the 
mother of our Lord. Mothers cannot be good mothers, 
unless taught to be good mothers from their infancy. If 
all mothers were good mothers, would not our world soon 
be a paradise ? 

The Bible lays down four great rules, involving four 
great elements of successful religious training of children : 
prayer^ excmiple^ instruction^ and restraint. And it is 
doubted if a solitary case can be found when all these have 
been united, where the child has not followed in the foot- 
steps of the pious parent. 



177 



HOME-WOKK FOR MOTHERS. 

The parent that stays at home and takes care of children 
is doing a work as boundless as God's heart. 

As when the time for seed-sowing is past, if the seed it 
not sown no industry or regret can avail ; so when a child 
has gone forth from under the parental care, if the work is 
not done you cannot follow it or change it. Some allevia- 
tion there may be, and some after-refuge ; but there can be 
no complete remedy. There is no way of compensating 
for neglect to sow the seed at the proper time. The seed- 
sowing time is when your children are at home, in your 
family ; and if you are going to do anything for them, you 
must do it then. Then take heed. The time is flying. 
What you do for your children, do quickly, or it will be 
too late. You may be taken from them. If they are taken 
from you, thank God. Happy is that family that has 
cherubs in heaven. Blessed are they whose care and re- 
sponsibility are ended because Christ hath taken their 
darlings. Better teachers than you are, are angels. A 
better parent than you are, is God. And blessed are those 
of your children that have gone to be with him. But 
what is done for those that yet remain with you, must be 
done speedily. Your days are ages in their effect, and yet 
they are fugitive as the arrow that flits through the air. 

It has been said of John Williams' mother: " Little did 
she imagine, when her children were clustering around her 
knees, and listening to the words that fell from her lips, 
that she was training up one of the most influential mis- 
sionaries of the cross, and that distant tribes and future 
generations would rise up and call her blessed." A very 
similar testimony may be borne to thousands of other 
godly parents. 



178 




OH! OH! WHAT A BAD GIRL! 

Bad ? She is ashamed of herself, covers her face. 'No 
wonder. And how many little boys and girls think you, 
reader, are in the very same predicament, or worse, if pos- 
sible — disobedient, self-willed, petulant, proud as Satan can 
make them ! on the way to ruin ! Her temper subdued 
when a little one, brought into sweet, lamb-like, heavenly 
subjection ? Not a word of it. She was pampered, petted, 
indulged, foolishly and wickedly ! Now the mother reaps 
the fruits of her sickly charity, her false tenderness ! 

A girl that is petted in childhood will, in all probability, 
be a pet all her life. And what kind of a wife and a 
mother is a pet ? 

This mother, represented in the picture, have trouble with 
this troublesome daughter ? Trouble on trouble, no end to 
it ; and this trouble will doubtless follow her to the grave ! 



oh! oh! what a bad girl! 179 

" Could we trace," says Payson, " the public and private 
evils which infest our otherwise happy country backward 
to their source, I doubt not we should find that most of 
them proceed from a general neglect of the education of 
children. With this neglect those parents are chargeable, 
who suffer their children to indulge without restraint those 
sinful propensities to which childhood and youth are but 
too subject. Among the practices which have this danger- 
ous tendency are a quarrelsome, malicious disposition, dis- 
regard to truth, excessive indulgence of their appetites, 
neglect of the Bible and religious instruction, profanation 
of the Sabbath, impious and indecent language, wilful dis- 
obedience, improper associations, want of scrupulous integ- 
rity, and idleness^ which is the parent of every evil. When 
youth are thus unrestrained, they almost invariably fall 
into courses which tend to undermine their constitutions 
and shorten their days. Parents who are guilty of this 
neglect, it is true, may have a blind fondness for their 
offspring, like the instinct of animals ; but it does not at 
all resemble a virtuous, enlightened affection, and is alto- 
gether unworthy of a rational, and still more, of a Chris- 
tian parent. 

" The fact is, they love their own ease too well to employ 
that constant care and exertion which are necessary to 
restrain children and to educate them as they ought. 
They cannot bear to correct them, to put them to pain, 
not because they love their children, but because they love 
themselves, and are unwilling to endure the pain of in- 
flicting punishment and of seeing their children suffer, 
though they cannot but be sensible that their happiness re- 
quires it." 



180 

BEAUTIFUL TRAINING.— LOOK AT IT. 

" Mamma," said little Mary, " I want some candy. Give 
me some." This she repeated some half a dozen times, 
with cries each time louder and louder, till they became a 
shriek ; mother meanwhile taking no notice. At last, 
unable to endure it longer, she said : " Hush, Mary, hush, 
and go away !" But Mary didn't hush — only repeated 
more emphatically, " I want some candy !" and screamed 
more fiercely. " I declare, I never saw such a child. Mary, 
hush, and go away !" Mary still screams, " I want some 
candy !" " Why, Mary, don't you see Mr. Amos ? What 
will he think of you ? His little girls don't do so !" Mary 
screams, " I want some candy ! Give me some candy !" 
" Mary, I'll whip you if you don't hush and go away. I 
haven't any candy !" Mary knows her ground well, and 
bates not a jot or a tittle of her demand and earnestness. 
" I want some candy ! give me some candy !" The mother, 
by this time, is somewhat excited herself, and thrusts her 
hand into a pocket, takes out a key, passionately thrusts it 
into the little hand, and says, " Here ! go to Aunt Jane, 
and tell her to look in the drawer and give you some !" 
The little victor stops her cries at once, and trots off with 
the key to Aunt Jane. 

Mother, is this little daughter yours ? Is it possible ? 
Well, what sayest thou to your little son ? ■' He is too 
young to be punished or restrained ; he will grow out of 
his badness, and do better when he is older," So have a 
thousand mothers said, while their children have been 
growing up with unsubdued wills, and ere they were 
aware, they have found a serpent within their own family 
circle. 

Alas ! that parents and guardians should so often forget 
that " a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." 



181 
LOVING LITTLE FOLKS— HOW MUCH? 

Paeexts, how much do you love your children ? enough 
to correct them betimes, subdue their evil tempers, restrain 
them from evil doings? What kind of love was Eli's 
toward his libidinous sons Hophni and Phinehas — sons of 
Belial ? What did God think of Eli's love in household 
discipline? Turn to 1 SamL ii. 27. How readest thou? 
What kind of love was David's toward his children, in 
letting them do as they pleased, serve Satan and their 
own lusts, pride, and ambition ? 

How many parents love their children in the same way ! 
Eli and David suffered their little ones to grow up in idle- 
ness, in all manner of sin and folly, to live as they listed, 
to be "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 
Instead of love, God calls this hatred. Love spareth not 
the rod. 

" He that spareth the rod hateth his son." 

1. Love will lay every restraint upon children necessary 
to save them from ruin. 

2. Love does not spare the rod, because it spares nothing 
necessary to insure the highest happiness of the son. If 
severe chastisement is necessary, it unhesitatingly adopts it. 

3. Love does not spare the rod, because God does not. 
No one can love more than God. His love is the strongest, 
purest, best ; and yet he does not govern by moral suasion 
alone. He never abandons law, penalty, or severe chas- 
tisement. " Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth." This 
is absolutely necessary to secure the end of his moral gov- 
ernment. 

Diseases, calamities, sufferings, afflictions, persecutions — 
these are the rods of the Almighty. 

Severity of chastisement may be equally necessary in 



182 LOVING LITTLE FOLKS. 

governing children, and love is the principle that impels it. 
He that spareth the rod, hateth his son : he that loveth him, 
chasteneth him betimes. 

1. We learn from what has been said, that those who 
would^expel the rod do really liaU the rising generation. 

2. This subject suggests one reason of the present diso- 
bedience and immorality among the young. 

No period in the history of our country has presented 
such alarming features of vice among the young, as at 
present. The time was, when parennal government had 
the throne. Once parents ruled, now children hold the 
reins. 



CORRECTING LITTLE FOLKS— MISBEHAVING. 

The object of paternal correction should be the ultimate 
good of the child ; and to make it effective — 

1. The character of the punishment should be according 
to the disposition and temperament of the child. ■ 

2. The punishment should be in proportion to the nature 
of the offence. 

3. It should be inflicted with the utmost self-possession ; 
for if done in a towering passion, it takes the character of 
revenge ; the child sees it and resists it with defiance, 
stubbornness, or with a feeling of being the injured or o|> 
pressed party. 

4. Place the offence or sin committed in its true, just, 
and clear light, and act accordingly ; and always, as much 
as possible, appeal to the child's conscience, to its sense of 
right, to its magnanimity, to its benevolence toward men, 
and its crratitude toward God. 



183 




SLEEPY FOLKS— FOLKS THAT SLEEP. 

SLEEPT-BEADS, SLEEPT-HEAKTS. 

Little readers, you have seen theni — so have we. It is 
sleep, sleep, lying down to sleep. " How long wilt thou 
sleep, O sluggard ? Avhen wilt thou arise out of thy sleep ? 
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of 
the hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one 
that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man." Prov. 
vi. 9-11. 

" Wake while yet the sparkling dewdrops 
Gem each flower's tiny bell ; 
Kneel Avith calm and thankful spirit — 
Kneel and breathe thy morning prayer." 



Where the head is sleepy, the heart is sure to be sleepy. 
Persons that sleep, doze away precious, golden moments, 
when they ought to be awake reading God's word, or on 
their knees before the Lord in prayer, how is it possible 
for their hearts to be alive and on fire for salvation ? 

Little folks, are you among the guilty ones that doze 
away the precious season of early morn ? Up ! wake up ! 



184 SLEEPY FOLKS. 

" Sweet is the breath of mom ! her rising sweet, 
With charm of earliest birds ; pleasant the sun 
When first on this delightful land he spreads 
His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, 
Glistening with dew." 

Up, wake up, ere the glorious king of day streaks the 
east. Up betimes, and on your knees ere the sun streak 
the east ! 

The morning is the prime, the golden season. The morn- 
ing air is sweet, delicious, charming ! Hail, lovely morning, 
precursor of brighter day ! 

The morning air adds brightness to the blood, fresh life 
and vigor to the whole frame. " The freshness of the lip 
is one of the surest signs of health." Would you be well, 
enjoy health, life, vigor of soul and body, have your heart 
dance joyfully, like an April breeze, and your blood flow- 
ing like an April brook ? Up ! wake up, tune your hearts 
in grateful praise ! 



EAELY RISING. 



" Wake ! for behold the rising light 
Of morning gilds the sky ! 
Its glories call for thankful songs. 
For action, prompt and high. 

" Wake, slumberer ! lest in fatal dreams 
Thy spirit shall be lost ; 
And thou too late shalt wake, to be 
Ever with anguish toss'd." 



185 
TRAINING CHILDREN TO PURITY. 

Says a mother, " I cannot instruct my child on the sub- 
ject of chastity. She is rapidly growing older, and soon 
she will know without my training." So, in accordance 
with this resolution, when her daughter asks questions on 
this subject, the mother gives false or evasive answers. 
The child perceives she is not fairly dealt with, and has 
her curiosity greatly excited. 

"While men slept the enemy came and sowed tares 
among the wheat, and went his way." Matt. xiii. 25. 

Rest assured, mothers, if you do not impart instruction to 
the rising age on this delicate question, the enemy of all 
righteousness will, even to your sorrow and tears of bitter 
weeping ! " For the lips of a strange woman drop as a 
honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil." "Her 
house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 
None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold 
of the paths of life." Prov. ii. 18. "Her end is bitter as 
wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword." "He goeth 
after her as the ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool go- 
eth to the correction of the stocks. Till a dart strike 
through his liver ; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and know- 
eth not it is for his life." Prov. vii. 22, 23. "Hearken unto 
me," says Solomon, " now therefore, O ye children, and at- 
tend to the words of ray mouth. Let not thine heart in- 
cline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath 
cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have 
been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going 
down to the chambers of death." 

The sources from which information is gathered, and the 
temptations to indulge in the sin of impurity, are innumer- 
able. Their name is legion. Exciting food and drink, ex- 



186 TRAINING CHILDREN TO PUEITY. 

citing company, exciting amusements, etc., all tend to im- 
purity. The libertine is everywhere. The vile woman, 
that prowls about the country to procure victims for houses 
of death, is everywhere, vile prints and publications are 
everywhere, the licentious fashion, the thousand and one 
excitements are everywhere. They cluster around those 
unshielded by parental instruction and parental example, 
or urge them forward into the gulf of pollution. 

And now we ask again, would you have your children 
among those who are thus neglected, thus unshielded, thus 
tempted to go down to the chambers of death and hell ? 

God has directed parents to teach all the commands to 
their children, has given line upon line and precept upon 
precept on the subject of purity; given some of the most 
thrilling incidents, has shown the fearful effects of licen- 
tiousness on nations and on individuals, and shall parents 
now excuse themselves, saying, " I don't know how to teach 
my children ?" Will they not rather seek, and shall they 
not find, that guidance the Lord is ever ready to grant ? 

Did parents realize the infinite importance of seeking to 
promote the purity of their children, did they feel as deep- 
ly, think as strongly, and act as efiiciently as they do in ref- 
erence to some other subjects, the supposed difiiculties 
would flee as clouds before the wind. 



" My son, if sinner sentice thee, consent thou not. If they 
say. Come with us, let us lay in wait for blood, let us lurk 
privily for the innocent without cause : my son, walk not 
thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their 
path." Frov. i. 10, 11, 15. 



187 
WALKING m WHITE, SPOTLESS. 

HINTS TO YOUNG FEMALES. 

" Modesty, like diamonds, shines most fair, 
More worth than pearls or rubies are." 

A WELL established character for morality and virtue, 
of purity of thought and action, is of great importance to 
people of every class and in all circumstances. But to a 
young lady, a good name is a priceless jewel. It is every- 
thing to her ; in some sense it will clothe her with an at- 
traction, a value, an importance in the estimation of others, 
which nothing else can impart. Possessed of a spotless 
character, she may reasonably hope for peace and happi- 
ness. But without such a character she is nothing. 

Youth, beauty, dress, accomplishments, all gifts and 
qualities will be looked upon as naught when tainted by a 
suspicious reputation ! Nothing can atone for this, nothing 
can be allowed to take its place, nothing can give charm 
and attraction where it exists not. When the character 
of a young woman is gone, all is gone ! Thenceforward 
she .can look for nothing but degradation and wretched- 
ness. 

The reputation of a young woman is of a most delicate 
texture. It requires not overt acts and actual wickedness 
to tarnish its brightness and cast suspicion on its purity ; 
indiscreet language, careless deportment, a want of dis- 
crimination in regard to associates, even when no evil is 
intended, will often bring into question her character, 
greatly to her injury. Many are the instances of a single 
word, spoken at random, in the giddy thoughtlessness of 
youthful vivacity, without the slightest thought of wrong, 
casting a shadow upon the character of a young woman 
which it required years to efface. 



188 




FOLLY AND FASHION— FASHION AND FOLLY. 



Look at her, little folks and great folks — is she beauti- 
ful ? If she thought as much of her so.ul and the souls of 
others as she does of fixing her head, j)laiting her hair, 
adjusting her curls, gewgaws, "mantles and Avimples," 
what a happy and useful woman she would be ! " The 
Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, 
and walk with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, 
walking and mincing as they go, making a tinkling with 
their feet ; therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the 
crown of the head of the daughters of Zion." Isaiah, 
iii. 16, 17. 

The wearing of gay and costly apparel tends to increase 
vanity, the love of being admired and praised. 

*' Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall 
come forth a vessel for the finer." Irov, xxiii. 4. 



FOLLY AXD FASHION. 189 

In simplicity is real power. Ostentation is the shadowy- 
semblance of it. Plain people, plain deeds, plain thoughts, 
and plain words tell most in the results of life and in the 
affairs of the world. 

The godly Bishop Cox, remarking on the fashions and 
follies of the present day, says : 

" When I see the tawdry fashion, the costly vulgarity, 
and the wicked extravagance of the times, I feel sure that 
thousands of American women are strangers to the first 
laws of refinement, simplicity in manners and attire. 

" When I see that thousands of American women read 
the most shameful romances and the most degrading news- 
papers, frequent the vilest dramatic entertainments, and 
join in dances too shocking to be named among Christians, 
I feel that Christian matrons are becoming too few, and 
that civilized heathenism is returning to the fields we have 
wrested from the Indians. 

" When I read daily of the most ungodly divorces, and 
of crimes against social purity and against human life 
itself, which are too gross to be mentioned more partic- 
ularly, I feel that too many of our countrywomen are 
without God in the world, and that radical reforms are 
necessary in the system of education on which the young 
women of America are dependent for their training. 

" When I see thousands of households in which young 
girls are reared for a life of pleasure, without reference to 
duty, I cannot wonder at these results, nor at the misery 
in which they involve families and communities. Sow the 
wind and reap the w^hirlwind !" 

The gayety and folly displayed in our churches make 
infidels faster than all the writings of Paine and Voltaire. 
It is an outrage of every doctrine, every example of the 
meek and lowly Jesus. 



190 



FASHIONABLE MOTHERS. 



Fashionable mothers, what are you doing to make the 
world better and happier — to elevate, purify, and sanctify ? 
How are you training your sons and your daughters ? On 
Gospel principles, to habits of industry, economy, purity, 
and sobriety ; and is your influence for good or evil ; on 
the side of virtue or of vice ? 

Who ever knew a great and good man, or a great and 
good woman, reared under the tuition of a fashionable 
mother? Whence our Moseses, Miriams, Samuels, John 
the Baptists, our Timothys, Wesleys, Doddridges, the John 
Newtons, the Washingtons — whence are they — who trained 
them — moulded their infantile years — fashionable mothers ? 
Not one ! These great, good, holy, and eminently useful 
men had great and good mothers — plain, j)ractical, indus- 
trious, economical, diligent in business, prayerful. God- 
fearing. See Prov. xxxi. 10-31. 

Kead the biographies of all our great and good men and 
women, from early time till the present — not one of them 
had a fashionable mother. They all sprung from plain, 
strong-minded women, who had as little to do with fashion 
as with the changing clouds. Away, then, with your 
starch, your aristocracy, your gewgaws, your pride, and 
your folly. Live for something — live for God and for 
glory. 

A pious mother, then, is the greatest of all earthly bless- 
insrs. The influence she exerts is the most excellent known 
on earth. Children brought up by a godly mother — who 
knows her duty and does it — who doubts their salvation ? 
She makes the earliest, the deepest, and the most lasting 
impressions on their hearts. In their minds, religion is as- 
sociated with all that is kind, winning, and pleasant in 



FASHIONABLE MOTHERS. 191 

home-life. They grow up with reverence for the Bible, 
the Sabbath, the house of Grod, and the ministers of Christ. 
They do not remember when first they heard the name of 
Jesus, or bowed their knees in prayer, or lisped the praises 
of God. They are instructed to hate and shun vice, and 
the seductions to it, and to admire and practice virtue. 
Having been trained up in the Avay they should go, when 
they become old they will not depart from it. 

How great is their responsibility ! God has committed 
tq, them the salvation of their own offspring. To secure the 
faithful discharge of the trust, he has planted in the mater- 
nal heart an afiection which no toil, care, or sacrifice can 
exhaust. No mother who studies her responsibility or the 
interests of her children, can consent to be without the sus- 
taining and guiding influence of Divine grace. 

Fashion kills more women than toil and sorrow. Obedi- 
ence to fashion is a greater transgression of the law of wo- 
man's nature, a greater injury to her physical constitution, 
than the hardships of poverty and neglect. The slave 
woman at her task will live and grow old, and see two or 
three generations of her mistresses fade and pass away. 
The washerwoman, with scarcely a ray of hope to cheer her 
in her toils, will live to see her fashionable sisters all die 
around her. It is a sad truth that the fashion-pampered 
women are almost worthless for all the great ends of hu- 
man life. They have but little force of character, they 
have still less power of moral will, and quite as little phys- 
ical energy. Read the biographies of our great and good 
men and women. ]N"ot one of them had a fashionable 
mother. They nearly all sprang from strong-minded women 
w^ho had about as little to do with fashion as with the 
chano-ing clouds. 



192 



CHILDREN'S PARTIES. 



In some neighborhoods, parties for little folks are fre- 
quent in low life and in high life. Mothers, have you no 
fears lest the serpent that beguiled Eve beguile your little 
ones? 

One little girl, not yet in her teens, must have a party, 
then another, and yet another, until the whole circle of their 
associates is completed. Here the different sexes mingle, 
numerous plays are introduced, great familiarity is in- 
dulged, and that reserve, that modest delicacy so much to 
be admired in females, especially the young, gradually 
wears away. As these feelings disappear, strange thoughts 
enter the mind — thoughts that for a time they are scarcely 
w^illing to acknowledge, even to themselves, can find a 
lodging-place within. By and by, when too late, parents 
may learn and children may learn that these thoughts, 
and feelings connected with them, are beyond control. 

Consequences have resulted, that caused ears to tingle, 
eyes to weep, and hearts to bleed ! Mother, could you 
expect less, considering the unhallowed associations, the 
unnatural excitement, the unreasonable hours, the intem- 
perance in eating, the wicked waste of time and money ? 

Again, these parties tend greatly to retard the progress 
of mental improvement. How much will a young girl im- 
prove her mind, who is thinking about a rich entertain- 
ment, an elegant new dress, and a good time with her 
associates ? Some schools have been Avell-nigh broken up 
by these parties. 

Such parties are likely to fill the mind with vain antici- 
pations, with hopes of happiness that can never be realized. 
Hence a fondness for fictitious reading. 

Once more. By means of children's parties, the morals 



193 

are greatly endangered. So closely woven, so linked to- 
gether are the results, that the danger is that they will all 
unite in weaving the great fabric of licentiousness. What- 
ever tends to weaken the intellectual powers, retard the 
progress of knowledge, to waste property, blunt the con- 
science, injure the disposition and impair the health, in- 
flames the passions, and leads to vice of the most appalling 
nature. 

And now, dear mothers, let us ask. What will you do ? 
Will you, in view of consequences so deplorable, run all 
risks, and let your child attend parties ? Or, will you not 
rather rouse up all your energies, and in a firm, decided 
voice, utter the emphatic " No !" 



OVER-DRESSED CHILDREN. 

Look at the over-dressed children we see constantly ; 
see them at church and everywhere, scanning the dress of 
their companions — annoying one, despising another, covet- 
ing this or ridiculing that article of dress, aping the man- 
ners of the mothers in receiving visits from their little 
friends, which are now as formal an affair, and as much a 
matter of fashion, as are the fashionable morning-calls of 
the elder members of the family. Hear them talking about 
beaux and sweethearts, of how they will live when they get 
married ; see the simpering little beau of ten gallanting 
home the little coquette of eight, each so full of self-conceit 
and admiration of their own dear self, as to have but little 
to spare for any one else, and confess that the sight is both 
ridiculous and distressing, as everything in nature must be 
which is wholly out of place and disproportioned. 

9 



194 




BUTTEEFLIES! BUTTERFLIES! BUTTERFLIES! 

Little reader, are you a butterfly ? What better if your 
heart is vain — placed on fine things, trifling gewgaws, and 
artificials? Proud, are you? of what — fine clothes? 

We never see a person proud of his dress but we think, 
Well, he has only cast-off clothes, after all; he has the 
jacket of the lamb, and the old great-coat of the sheep ; 
from head to foot he is dressed in what the trees or the 
animals have used before him. His shoes are made of hides, 
his stockings of the cotton-shrub, his shirt of the flax-plant, 
his handkerchief is spun by the Qatterpillar, and his gloves 
are the waistcoat of the angola. Why not say, 

" Then will I set my heart to find, 
Inward adorning of the mind ; 
Knowledge and virtue, truth and grace, 
These are the robes of richest dress." 

Want you to look pretty? Certainly we do, young 
friends, pretty as pretty can be ; beautiful as the morning 



butterflies! 195 

rose, as the lilies of tlie field. But what is beauty, and 
what will make you beautiful? Heaven in your souls, 
Jesus, the Lamb of God ! Meanwhile adorning yourselves 
in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety ; not 
with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, 
but (which becometh women professing godliness), "with 
good works" — "with the ornament of a meek and quiet 
spirit, Avhich is in the sight of God of great price." 

Such a sjjectacle of the morally sublime is the admira- 
tion of angels. They stoop to gaze upon it with joy se- 
raphic, bend their golden plumes. God himself smiles com- 
placently. O lovely sight, ecstatically beautiful ! 

This conquest is not an army merely, but of the ichole 
world. In a word, it's daring to be singular — to face the 
enemy, the world, the flesh, and the devil — saying joyfully, 
" Get thee hence, Satan ; it is written, thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve." 

It's taking God for your portion : exemplifying the re 
ligion of Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, fidelity. Oh for a cloud of 
such witnesses ! such angels of mercy ! soon our dark world 
would be transformed, beautified, and blossom as the rose. 

Behold the daughter of innocence ! How beautiful is the 
mildness of her countenance ; how lovely is the difiidence 
of her looks ! 

Her cheek is dyed with the deep crimson of the rose ; 
her eye is placid and serene, and the gentleness of her 
speech is as the melting softness of the flute. 

Her smiles are as the enlivening rays of the sun ; the 
"beauty of her presence, as the silver light of the moon. 

Her attire is simple : her feet tread with caution, and she 
feareth to give offence. 



196 



LITTLE FOLKS FIXING UP NEATLY, GENTEELLY. 

Little friends, fix yourselves up neatly, genteelly, es- 
pecially when you rise in the morning, come to the table, 
to family prayers, or attend the house of God. You'll feel 
better, hear better, pray better, do everything better. No 
slovenly person feels as he ought. Make this a matter of 
conscience. See that your bodies are fit temples for the 
Holy Spirit. 

With what care and attention do the feathered race wash 
themselves and put their plumage in order, and how per- 
fectly neat, clean, and elegant do they appear. Among 
the beasts of the field we find that those which are the 
most cleanly are generally the most gay and cheerful, or 
are distinguished by a certain air of tranquillity and con- 
tentment, and singing birds are always remarkable for the 
neatness of their plumage. So great is the efiect of clean- 
'liness upon man, that it extends even to his moral character. 
Virtue never dwelt long with filth. 

In advocating gospel simplicity in costume, the entire 
avoidance of display or worldly conformity, the adorning 
of gold, pearls, or costly array, we should be careful not 
to fall into an opposite extreme, and neglect our exterior 
deportment. The neglect of the outward appearance nidi- 
cates either a little mind, or a disregard to the opinions of 
our neighbors. One should always be neat and clean in 
person and dress, because this is an evidence of respectabil- 
ity and the fear of God. No lady, who has any regard for 
herself or any respect for the society in which she moves, 
will be slovenly in her appearance or careless in her attire. 
To dress simply and without ostentation is not only a mark 
of modesty, but of gospel simplicity and purity. 



197 

GOVERNMENT OF CHILDREN. 

Every person, but particulaiiy every mother, should be 
careful to preserve a sound mind in a sound body. The 
soul should dwell in her body as the strong man who keep- 
eth his house, and she should take care that no thief enters 
to steal away her senses. Anything which impairs health, 
injures her mental powers ; and a sickly woman, unless she 
is one of a thousand, and has great grace, is a fretful wo- 
man, and a fretful woman is not fit to have the charge of 
children. 

A mother should take care that her children get none 
but wholesome food, have pure air night and day, are suf- 
ficiently washed, which should be the entire person once 
every twenty-four hours — loosely and comfortably clothed, 
have plenty of exercise in the open air, and employment 
suitable to their ages. Preserve them, at all cost, from im- 
proper associations. Never trust children to the care and 
companionship of persons you esteem your own inferior. 
Have no servants about them. Intrust them only to the 
care of persons whom they are taught to respect, and who 
are worthy of that respect. We should as much think of 
giving our child a bottle of vitriol to amuse it, as hiring a 
girl out of some alley, of whose morals we know next to 
nothing, and placing her as the child's attendant. 

If you do not have the entire charge of your child, em- 
ploy some one the nearest possible approach to your ideas 
of a model lady and a Christian, to take your place. 

If you thus place your child in proper conditions, and are 
careful to keep the command of your own spirit, acts of 
vnlfid disobedience will be rare. But when self-will does 
manifest itself in the least, be sure to check it instantly. 



198 

MOTHERS MAKING DRUNKARDS! 

Shocki:n^g thought ! What cheek does not blush to hear 
it — what ear tingles not ? • 

" Every mother knows, from the sermons, and books, 
and essays upon the subject that have flooded the land, 
but more still from her own instincts and heart-beats, that 
no one in all the world has such an influence as she has 
over the future men and women, now the little confiding 
child on her breast. 

" The weal or the woe of her unborn babes depends 
greatly on her dietetic habits. Does she realize that the 
food she prepares to eat, if rich, heavily spiced and salted, 
gives them an appetite for stimulating things ; that the 
domestic wines, which she manufactures as innocently as 
she does her jellies and cakes, give her children their first 
taste of something stronger than water to drink ? 

" Does she ever think that the ale and porter which her 
physician advises her to use freely while nursing her chil- 
dren, are nursed into their stomachs, carried into their 
blood and brains, and thus — the last thing she would 
dream of — their taste is forming for them, and the natural, 
instinctive dislike of a child for liquor taken away ? 

" Does she know that the bourbon and brandy, a few 
teaspoonfuls a day for strength and medicine before the 
birth of the child, all through the early intimacy of child 
and mother, has its influence and eflect, until, when the 
temptation comes for him to drink for the pleasure of it, 
her warning, " My child, do not touch the cup," loses its 
force ; for against it rise his strong appetites, and the re- 
membrance that he had seen her take of the same ? 

" If every mother would be convinced of the importance 
of all these seemingly little matters, would not the coming 
generation see fewer men sinking into drunkards' graves ?" 



199 

MADAM LIAR TELLS LIES NOT A FEW. 

Lie ! tell lies ? Yes, you do, madam. When you tell 
your servant to say, " you are not at home," when you are 
at home ; or to say to a visitor, " you are so busy that you 
cannot be seen." What are these but lies — barefaced, 
heaven-daring ? You not only tell direct, positive false- 
hoods yourself, but you teach your servants and children 
to do the same. A lie is a lie in the parlor or in the kitchen, 
up stairs or down stairs, and " he sure your sin will find you 
out." "A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he 
that speaketh lies shall perish." JProv. xix. 5. 

You ought to be thankful, friend, for the calling of any 
one at your door — king, queen, governor, man of state, cob- 
ler, scavenger, boot-black, or chimney-sweep. " What for," 
say you, madam ? To do them good, hand them a tract, 
drop a word of kindness and mercy, to point them to Jesus. 
" To do good and communicate, forget not, for with such 
sacrifices the Lord is well pleased." 



FALSE DIGNITY EXPOSED. 

Is a person at the door, seeking admission, does the door- 
bell ring? Quick! quick! keep no one icaiting at the 
door or in the parlor a single moment. 

It is surprising how some icould-he gentlemen and ladies 
are so very dignified that they seem to delight in showing 
their aristocratic pride by keeping their visitors some ten or 
fifteen minutes in the parlor, before they make their appear- 
ance. It is well to inform these dignified ones, that the 
time of others is worth something as well as theirs ; and, 
after waiting some twenty minutes for their appearance, 
leave them to their own meditations. 



200 




THE LITTLE THIEF CAUGHT IN THlS ACT. 



" Theft will not be always hidden, 
Though we fancy none can spy ; 

When we take a thing forbidden, 
God beholds it with his eye." 



201 



MAKING LIARS AND THIEVES. 

Speak the truth always in the presence of your children ; 
never prevaricate, or manifest the least particle of guile or 
deception. Children are eagle-eyed. One great reason 
wTiy we have so many liars, deceivers, and false accusers 
in the world is, children acquire the habit of telling lies 
from the example of those around them. Some people tell 
lies to children with a view of enjoying a laugh at their 
credulity. This is to make a mock at sin, and they are fools 
who do it. The tendency in a child to believe w^hatever it 
is told, is of God for good. It is lovely. It seems a shadow 
of primeval innocence glancing by. We should reverence 
a child's simplicity. Touch it only with truth. Be not the 
first to quench that lovely truthfulness by falsehoods. 

Lying is the first step or next door to thieving. No one 
becomes a thief at once. The beginning is small, but un- 
less checked the work goes surely on till great crimes are 
committed. 

Stealing fruit from orchards and gardens is generally the 
first step that leads to a- thievish character. Boys in their 
teer»6 or even younger, do this ; that is, some boys do — • 
those whose parents think little of moral discipline, and who 
regard pilfering rather as a cunning trick than as a crime to 
be abhorred and corrected at all hazards. There are such 
parents in every community, and they are breeding thieves 
who are to curse society. We have. known an indulgent 
mother, a zealous Church-member, who, as such, is bound 
to train up her children in " the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord," to send her son out in another's cornfield before 
noon to get an armful of corn for the family's dinner, with^ 
out his consent. This is the way to make thieves. 

9^ 



202 

TESTING FOLKS, INDOORS AND OUT. 

How is that parent's walk, daily conversation ? How is 
his family trained, what his habits of economy, temper, 
sobriety, punctuality, purity, and consistency — of justice, 
mercy, and truth? Is he benevolent, just and upright in 
all his dealings, kind and liberal to the poor ? Is the family 
altar kept burning brightly and statedly^ night and morn- 
ing? Is his temper mild, sweet, heavenly? How is his 
tongue, the little mischief-maker — kept bridled always, 
especially before the wicked ? 

These are questions of moment, and cannot be passed 
over lightly. God is witness. A man or woman may talk 
fluently, pray fluently, make loud professions, go so far as 
to shout " Glory !" and still be very loose, inconsistent, and 
unchristian in things about' home. Here lies the test. We 
know a woman on the church-list that can talk like an 
angel — her tongue flows glibly, smoother than oil, relig- 
iously — and still she is extravagant in her costume and 
etiquette, personal adornments — dresses stylishly, imitates 
the world in gewgaws — and indulges her children in pride 
and folly ; consequently many look upon her with a •sus- 
picious eye ; her good is evil spoken of, and her good 
deeds lose their heavenly fragrance — the fine gold becomes 
dim. Alas, what a pity ! 

" Let your conversation be such as becometh the gospel 
of Christ." What is the mind of Christ with respect to 
Christians adorning their persons with jewelry and gay 
and costly attire? And what is the efiect of such 
adorning on the individual, the church, and the world ? 
How sadly a single dark spot mars the beauty of a white 
robe ! 



203 




SIGNING THE PLEDGE OF TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 



See them at it, little and big, colored folks and white 
folks. What do you think of it, readers ; would it not be 
better, by far, to go to Jesus for a new heart of love and a 
right spirit, seek first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness ? 

The first pledge given should be for Jesus, the Lamb of 
God, then temperance follows, every Christian grace, what 
things soever are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of 
good report. Why begin at the wrong end, put the cart 
before the horse ? 

Hereabouts lies the sad mistake of parents, teachers, and 
preachers, little folks and great folks. Let every parent 
obey the Lord in training the little folks on Bible truth, 
God-fearingly, all the way from babyhood, what need of 
temperance societies, moral-reform societies, peace societies, 



204 SIGNING THE PLEDGE OP TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 

missionary societies ? Multitudes of little folks and great 
folks sign the pledge of total abstinence from all that in- 
toxicates, and return to their cups, like the dog to his own 
vomit, or the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the 
mire, die miserable, drunken sots ! Wherefore ? They did 
not begin where God begins, lay the axe at the root of the 
evil, where every parent, every child should begin with 
Jesus, seek first the light of heaven, angel's food, which if 
any one eat thereof he shall never die. 

God is dishonored in the outset. " My glory will I not 
give to another, neither my praise to graven images." 
Train little folks for Jesus, body, mind, and soul, and they 
are teetotalers, not only from strong drink and tobacco, but 
from everything God hates, and against which he denounces 
wrath, damnation here, damnation forever ! " Touch not, 
taste not, handle not the unclean thing," is imprinted in- 
delibly on their inmost souls ! 

Temperance societies — what for ? Every man, woman, 
and child thus ordained of God "is temperate in all things." 
Peace societies — what for? Every child on the way to 
glory from the nursery in God's order is " peace, peace, 
henceforth and forever." " Blessed are the peace-makers." 
Children trained as God requires, " follow peace with all 
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the 
Lord." Ileb. xii. 14. 

Soon" swords would be beaten into ploughshares, and 
spears into pruning-hooks. Nation would no more lift up 
sword against nation, neither would they learn war any 
more. The glorious period spoken of by Isaiah would be 
here : 

" The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leop- 
ard shall lie down with the kid : and the calf, and the 
young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall 



SIGNING THE PLEDGE OP TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 205 

lead then]. And the cow and the bear shall feed, then- 
young ones shall lie down together ; and the lion shall eat 
straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on 
the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his 
hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor 
destroy in all my holy mountain : for the earth shall be 
full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea." Isa. xi. 6-9. 

Missionary societies — what for ? Train the little ones 
for God, for glory all the way, and every man, woman, and 
child is a missionary for the Lord, flying here, flying there, 
the world over, on wings of mercy love, and truth, so long 
as one sinner is unsaved. Salvation streams ! 

Moral-reform societies — what for ? Obey God in house- 
hold duty — what now ? Virtue, purity of thought, word, 
and action is breathed out, lived out. Adultery, fornica- 
tion, uncleanness, lasciviousness would cease, even the look 
libidinous. 

" My son, keep thy father's commandments, and forsake 
not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon 
thy heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou 
goest, it shall lead thee ; when thou sleepest, it shall keep 
thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. 
For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light ; 
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life : To keep 
thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue 
of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine 
heart ; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by 
means of a whorish w^oman, a man is brought to a piece of 
bread : and tlie adulteress will hunt for the precious life. 
Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be 
burnt ? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be 
burnt ?" Prov, vi. 20-28. 



206 



BE CONVERTED, ELSE NO HEAVEN FOR LITTLE FOLKS 
OR GREAT FOLKS. 

^'■Except ye he converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of Heaven.'''' Matt. viii. 3. 

^"0 wise, or good, how just soe'er they seem, 
Can saved be, unless the Lord redeem. 
No blood can flow from veins of man or beast, 
Sin's stains to cleanse, that can blot out the least. 
' Tis Christ alone, by whom we live, 
Who can the vilest sins forgive. 

The best, the worst, most stubborn or profane, 
May hope in various ways this Heaven to gain, 
But never one shall reach that heavenly land. 
Until a penitent, child-like he stand. 

' Tis then the Lord his pardon gives, 
And joy the purest in him lives. 



BRING FORTH FLOWERS WITHOUT JESUS? NO 
YOU CAN'T. 

How can little children's heai;ts 

Bring forth flowers of love. 
Unless Christ, the Lord, impart 

Sunshine from above ? 

Oh ! how patient and how kind 

Jesus used to be ! 
He will put his gentle mind. 

If I ask, in me. 



207 




SEE THIS MAN IN THE PICTURE, LITTLE READER? 

Do you know who he is, and what he is doing ? He is a 
Chinaman, with a dingy, dirty, murky pipe in his mouth. 
Shameful ! And yet, look abroad, and see what multitudes 
are slaves to opium and the " Indian weed." Even little 
boys, street urchins, ragamuffins, have acquired this villain- 
ous habit by seeing big folks bowing to the dirty tyrant ! 

Bad, young readers ? The use of tobacco in any way is 
bad — bad as bad can be. Leads to strong: drink ? In thou- 
sands of instances. 

Said a poor Indian, " I want three things : all the rum in 
the world, all the tobacco, then more rum ! I smoke be- 
cause it makes me love to drink." 

Some eighty diseases are traced, by Dr. Shaw, to the 
use of this poisonous narcotic. 

The effect of its use on boys is terrible, ruinous, deadly ! 

Dr. Decaisne, while engaged in investigating the influ- 



208 THE MAN IN THE PICTtlEE. 

ence of tobacco on the circulatory system, had his attention 
called to the large number of boys between the ages of nine 
and fifteen years who were addicted to smoking. Of thirty- 
eight boys who smoked, twenty-seven showed symptoms of 
disease; thirty-two had various disorders of circulation; 
bruit de souffle in the neck, disordered digestion, palpita- 
tions, slowness of intellect, and more or less taste for strong 
drinks. Eight showed a diminution of the red corpuscles 
of the blood; three, had intermittent pulse; twelve, quite 
frequent epitaxis ; ten, disordered sleep ; and four, ulcera- 
tion of mucous membrane of the mouth. 

Look at the enormous expense in IS^ew York city. More 
than twice the amount is puffed away in cigars that is 
expended for bread. 

Consider the indecency of smoking, chewing, or of snuff- 
ing tobacco. The breath of every smoker and chewer is 
intolerable. 

No lady, at the present day, can loalk in a city, travel in 
any of our public conveyances, without the annoyance of 
tobacco juice^ or turn a corner without meeting a puff of 
smoke in her face. 

No person has a right to make the saiactuary of home 
disagreeable by the use of anything that offends. The 
smoke of a pipe or a cigar penetrates clothing, injures books, 
pictures, and nice furniture, and it should be banished at 
the threshold. 

Opium-eating, like the use of tobacco, is weaving a wind- 
ing-sheet for thousands annually. The effects of opium on 
the system is fearful — next door to the quid and the rum- 
bottle. 

Oh what a curse is this opium and tobacco business, iii: 
every sense of the word — on the whole system is written, 
Death ! 



209 

SLEEPIKG SWEETLY, REFRESHINGL Y— HOW ? 

" So he giveth his beloved sleep.'''' 

" How giveth he to his beloved eleep ? 
Not by the opiate of the orient, 
Or drowsy drugs of human pharmacy , 
Not by the whisperings of philosophy, 
Or the soft lull of transcendental dreams ; 
'Tis by the ministrations of. a faith 
Strong in his promises." 

Without sleep we languish, we perish, we die. " The 
vitai energy is dried up and withered, and we waste away 
as a tree would deprived of the sap that nourishes it. The 
physical effects of sleep are, that it retards all the vital 
movements, collects the vital power, and restores what has 
been lost in the course of the day, and separates us from 
what is useless and pernicious. Therefore the utmost care 
should be taken to do justice and mercy in this matter ; 
avoid sedulously, as you would a viper, all undue bodily 
or mental effort and excitement, every species of intem- 
perance." 

The man that lives and labors for God, sleeps for God, 
does everything for God. There is no peace to the wicked. 
Even his unconscious moments are like the troubled sea, 
casting up mire and dirt. 

" Weary of heart, with guilt oppressed, 
I wander' d when the night was falling." 

Sweet sleep— how refreshing! What a blessing! It 
repairs our exhausted nature ; and we rise from our slum- 
bers with increased energy, capable of again renewing the 
fatigues of the day. 



210 



THE WIFE'S INFLUENCE FOR GOOD OR EYIL. 

HusBAN^D, are you influenced by your wife ? All right, 
if on the side of truth, righteousness, love, salvation, virtuous 
purity unsullied. Otherwise, beware! there is danger — 
fearful ! Some husbands are so completely bound up in 
the " weaker vessel," as to leap in the dark, swing loose in- 
to fire and water, coals red-hot ! Man, open your eyes — 
keep them open. 

Look ! here is a poor, deluded, hen-pecked husband, so 
completely under the jurisdiction of madam, that he 
scarcely thinks, moves, or has a being, save when his dear- 
est says "yes" or " no." 

One day, in conversation with this good brother, touch- 
ing reformatory subjects, we suggested the propriety of one 
step in advance of the conservative or expediency doctrine. 
He startled at the thought — trembled ! His eyes rolled 
fearfully. 

" What will my wife think ? What will she say ?" 

Thus he is tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, al- 
ways on the fence, halting between two opinions, scarcely 
knowing his right hand from his left. Pity him ? certainly 
we do ; and yet, with all the pity that can be mustered, does 
he not deserve the severest reproof? No man, woman, or 
child, should deviate or swerve one iota from truth, lower 
the gospel standard of purity, love, and mercy a hair's 
breadth. Come life, come death, though the heavens fall, 
wife and all. Stick to your text ; let God be first, midst, 
last, akoays. " Stand up for Jesus." Go forward ! 

This poor man has no will of his own, and is led into 
awful mistakes and blunders. 

Again, there are others who place their afiections so in- 
tensely and absorbingly on their bosom companions, as to be 



GOOD OR FOR EVIL. 211 

totally blinded to their faults, their indiscreetiiess, errors 
of judgment and practice. The result is fearful in the ex- 
treme. This undue, all-absorbing attachment is idolatry, 
nothing short — the worshipping "the creature more than 
the Creator, God over all, blessed /bre?;er .^" an open viola- 
tion of the first commandment, " Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me." Furthermore, being thus hoodwinked 
plunges one headlong into the quagmire of misleadings ! 
Strange infatuation ! woful ! 

Bel#ved reader, what right have you or any others to be 
influenced by a wife, except that influence is good, wise, 
prudent, scriptural, God-fearing ? "A prudent wife is from 
the Lord," a blessing unspeakable ; otherwise, a trap, a 
snare, " a continual dropping." Ahab found it so when he 
married Jezebel ; so did Herod when he " married his bro- 
ther Philip's wife." These men were very wicked be- 
fore marrying, but ten times more wicked afterward. 
Solomon was led astray by his idolatrous wives. Are these 
solitary cases ? Look, and see. With the truth of God in 
our hands, what right has a husband to be influenced by a 
wife, or a wife by her husband, unless this influence be God- 
w^ard, on the side of virtue, purity, and love? "To the 
law and the testimony." The counsel of a prudent wife. 
God-fearing, is of value inestimable. 

It is well enough to please your wife — indispensable, in- 
deed, when you can do so and not displease your heavenly 
Father. First ascertain whether or not God is well pleased 
with this or that. 

If an angel from heaven j) reach another gospel aside from 
the glad tidings of salvation by Jesus Christ, " let him," as 
Paul says, " be accursed." 



212 
WOMAN'S POWER FOR GOOD OR EVIL. 

" Nor steel nor fire itself hath power, 
Like woman in her conquering hour. 
Do thou hut fair— mankind adore thee I 
Smile, and a world is weak before !" 

The influence of woman is wonderful for good or dread- 
ful for evil ! With a principle of piety ruling in her heart, 
her influence acts like a charra and becomes almost irresist- 
ible. A young lady, by her consistent Christian example, 
may exert an untold j)Ower. We know the respect, and 
almost worship, which young men, no matter how wicked 
they may be themselves, pay to a consistent Christian lady, 
be she young or old. 

The safeguard of woman's happiness rests on the sanctity 
of home. If her influence there is not thrown in the scale 
of right and humanity, if she gives way to a great moral 
wrong which has crushed thousands of her sex, then is 
home and community doubly cursed. 

Female influence is omnipotent for weal or for woe. 
When the destinies of men are all unfolded in the final 
day, how many of the lost will reflect with anguish on 
female influence ! We need it all for good and none for 
evil. We need it in the nursery, where mothers can imbue 
the minds of children with temperance principles. We 
need it in childhood and youth, when a mother's example 
and a mother's warnings and kind admonitions are like a 
golden chain. We need it in society, in the social circle, 
and even in the business of life, wherever woman reigns 
supreme. Thanks be to God that we have it so extensively 
throughout the land. 



" Her children arise up and call her blessed ; her hus- 
band also, and he praiseth her." Prov. xxxi. 28. 



213 
WOMAN AT HOME. 

Home is the throne of empires on which woman sits, the 
sceptre with which she wields the destiny of nations. All 
that is dear and holy, noble and divine, in society or the 
nation, centres back to home, where woman presides as the 
angel of love. 

If she would seek the honor of exerting an influence 
which shall last after the present order of the universe is 
changed, a philanthropist whose name, though not lauded 
by the fickle multitude, shall be remembered by the good 
and pure in the ages of eternity, let her not, for any social 
interest or cause, neglect the hallowed duties of home, but 
watch over them with jealous trust, with devotional con- 
stancy, with unruffled vigilance, to keep that home the 
nursery of all the virtues, the sanctuary of the heart's 
deepest loves, the " holy of holies," whei-e the divine pres- 
ence may shine forth in her looks, and be manifest in her 
actions. 

Home is woman's true sphere. There is nothing in this 
wide world that will confer greater honor upon her than 
for her to make that home a type of what society should 
be, and of what heaven is in the graces of exalted charac- 
ter. As a wife, she should be to her husband a guardian 
angel ; as a mother, charged with the high trust of direct- 
ing the child, she should see that, like the work of the 
skilful artist, she moulds it " true to nature," beautiful and 
pure. 

" Nor steel nor fire itself hath power, 
Like woman in her prayerful hour !" 

The poet has disclosed the whole secret of woman's con- 
quering power. Fair in her virtue, smiling in her good- 
ness, she wields an influence which a mailed warrior never 
could. 



214 



BOARDING-SCHOOLS FOR YOUNG LADIES. 

Parent, watch o'er thy child, 
Keep "back uo goodly thing. 

Take heed, mothers, walk softly here — danger is near ! 
Ten to one, if God is not in the soul, love divine, rooted 
and grounded in your daughters, they learn more evil than 
good in these seminaries ; return to you changed wonder- 
fully, heartrendingly ! They left (may be) the kind, pater- 
nal roof, sweet, modest, virtuous. God-fearing. How now ? 
the coquette ? worse yet, in all probability. Unless girls 
are trained altogether^ from the start, gospelly, and their 
whole being, heart, and life stamped indelibly for purity of 
thought, word, and action, rooted and grounded in the love 
of God, where is safety — oh where ? 

The tempter lurks at every corner — the road to ruin is 
gradual. It often begins in those little attentions of the 
other sex, that excite no suspicion. The presentation of 
a souvenir, a bouquet, the social chat, the evening walk. 
These are frequently the beginnings of evil — the letting out 
of waters — that bring desolation to many a once happy 
home, and eternal ruin to an immortal soul! Christians, 
mothers, and teachers are not half awake on this subject. 
Pupils, young, inexperienced daughters, are j)ermitted to 
attend meetings and other public places, unaccompanied by 
any protecting guardian, and young men, of Avhose moral 
character they are almopt entirely ignorant, gallant them 
home, and often at a late hour. Allowing no evil is con- 
templated, we respectfully inquire if this course is wise, 
safe, or prudent ? Ls the example worthy of imitation, the 
influence on the mind and heart salutary ? 



215 




TAKING A PLEASUEE TEIP. 



All right, no harm, if so be God is in it, truth and love. 
Little folks and great folks have no right to do this, do 
that, go here, go there, by sea or by land, except God per- 
mits, says "Go!" "In all thy ways acknowledge him, 
and he shall direct thy paths." 

It's our pleasure to please God, do his will. Young 
readers, are the angels happy, think you? What makes 
them happy ? Because they fly on wings obedient ? Don't 
you want to be an angel ? Well, fly, fly ! fly I on angel's 
wings, to do good, to make others happy. Are you born 
of the Holy Spirit, regenerated ? Have old things passed 
away, and all things become new ? Do you love the Lord 
with all your heart, soul, and strength, your neighbor as 



216 TAKING A PLEASUKE TRIP. 

yourself? Are your little hearts full of faith and the Holy 
Spirit? Are you going forth weeping, bearing jirecious 
seed ? Is holiness written on your foreheads and your 
door-posts ? What now — any time or relish for cricket, 
dominoes, checkers, fox and geese, and other games of 
chance, that kill time and lead to gambling ? 

Every description of gambling is unsafe, because of the 
irresistible tendencies of indulging in games of hazard. 
"No one can deny that the mental passion for gambling is 
as terrible and as destructive as the physical appetite for 
strong drink, and they are to a great extent concomitant 
or supplementary, one of the other. I^o one can doubt 
that the love of hazard is a natural, -mental passion. The 
tendency of the whole system of gaming is to an undue 
stimulus of this love of hazard, and there must evidently 
be somewhere a line that divides the safe from the danger- 
ous. Where is that line ? 

It is at least safe for every lover of humanity to discoun- 
tenance and renounce every type and instrument of gaming 
which is ever employed in gambling. It is dangerous 
enough to encourage games which stimulate this passion, 
though they are not capable of awakening the enthusiasm 
necessary for gambling ; but to use the very tools of the 
gambler is hazardous indeed. 

We speak from experience and wide observation. When 
a boy, we became so infatuated with whist, checkers, fox 
and geese, that we lost all relish for study, and sometimes 
the day broke to find us still at the table. 

No question is exciting greater interest in the Chris- 
tian public, than that of amusements, or pleasure-seeking. 
The " Watchman" says : " This spirit is penetrating our 
churches and coloring our Christianity. The demand is, 
that our sanctuaries, and our Sabbath-schools, and our 



TAKING A PLEASURE TFwIP. 217 

prayer-meetings should be anmsing. Attractive is the 
word used. Opera music is furnished in the sanctuary. It 
attracts : it fills the pews. The Sabbath-school must be 
attractive. The children must be amused. Sabbath-school 
concerts and anniversaries must be spiced with witty anec- 
dotes,, and prayer-meetings must be made attractive by 
holding them in rooms furnished with the apparatus for 
popular games. A brother in the ministry described to me 
the furnishing of a room for a Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation in one of our cities. Along each side of the 
room were tables for playing dominoes, backgammon, and 
checkers, and around these young men sat absorbed in 
their games till the moment for the prayer-meeting came, 
and then the tables were cleared and worship began. Now 
in the name of all that is proper, and serious, and sacred, 
we protest against this combination. The experience of 
years has taught us that the prayer-meetings which have 
been most profitable to us have been those to which we 
have gone from the closet and from our knees. Can these 
young men turn at once, and without leaving their places, 
from an exciting game to acts of prayer and praise ? Is 
this the fitting preparation for an approach to the presence 
of Him before whom angels veil their faces ? 

Little Christian, your soul is alive in God, on fire for 
salvation ; you can say with the Psalmist, " O, how love I 
thy law : it is my meditation all the day." What now — 
fall into this trap of Satan ? N'ot a word of it, not a golden 
moment will be wasted in the pursuit of mere worldly 
amusements, however innocent in themselves they may be 
considered. Y oiir j^leasure is in doing good, in social and 
religious meetings, in the most earnest and energetic efibrts 
for the promotion of every enterprise that is calculated to 
glorify God, and bless any portion of the human race. 

10 



218 TAKIXG A PLEASURE TRIP. 

All the pleasure that is found in social parties or games of 
chance, for mere amusement, will prove in the end to have 
been too dearly purchased. Such pleasure-seeking on the 
part of Christians distracts their attention from worthy 
objects, renders them barren of religious enjoyment, and 
destroys their Christian influence with the impeniten-t. It 
is equivalent to acknowledging that there is not enougli in 
the religion of the Bible to employ and satisfy the mind. 
This is an alarming inference ; but there is no escape 
from it. 

The religion of the Bible rejoices the soul, fills it with 
unspeakable delight. The word of God is sweeter to the 
taste than honey or the honey-comb. Those who most 
fully appreciate the magnitude of the duties of life — the 
loork of living for eternity — will have the least concern 
about pleasure of any kind. 

' Fathers, mothers, when your sons 
* Look to you for daily bread, 

Dare ye, in mock'ry, load with stones 

The table that for them is spread ? 
How can ye hope your sons will live, 
If ye, for fish, a serpent give ?" 

" Whv do ye spend money for that which is not bread, 
and your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken 
diligently, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul 
delight itself in fatness. Ho ! every one that thirsteth, 
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, 
buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money 
and without price." Isa. Iv. 2, 1. " O that men were 
wise, that they understood this !" 



" A man's heart deviseth his way ; but the Lord direct- 
eth his steps." Prov. xvi. 9. 



21 




STEAL, LITTLE FOLKS OR GREAT FOLKS? 
Not a pin, a pear, a peach, a plum. 

" On the floods that are uot thine, 

Do not dare to lay thy finger ; 

On thy neighbor's hetter things, 

Let no wistful glances linger.' 

A BOY or girl who will steal an apple, a pear, or bou- 
quet, will doubtless, by and by, steal other things and 
greater things. 



220 
POPULAK AMUSEMENTS— TOYS FOR CHILDREN. 

WHT SEEK TE THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD? 

Vice and infidelity assail even childhood and infancy, 
and by means so insidious and infamous, yet so seemingly 
innocent, that the child is not only captivated, but even 
the watchful and j)ious parent is likely to be deceived and 
beguiled, until the secret poison, thus artfully disguised, 
has been injected into the unsuspecting victim. 

Parents rack invention, study day and night to find out 
new methods of amusement for their children, fly from one 
thing to another, purchase this fancy article and that, this 
doll-baby and that, this hobby-horse and that hobby- 
horse, this new novel and that new novel. Fancy-stores 
are ransacked during Christmas holidays, the amount ex- 
pended on trifling toys and playthings would scatter mil- 
lions of leaves for healing the nations, cause millions of 
widows' hearts to sing for joy. The eye is not satisfied 
with seeing, nor the ear with hearing. "All is vanity," 
and less than vanity, and " vexation of spirit." Parents be- 
gin at the wrong end ; they " seek the living among the 
dead." 

" O ye simple ones, how long will ye love simplicity ?" 
"Doth not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her 
voice ?" " Wisdom crieth without ; she uttereth her voice 
in the streets." " Where shall wisdom be found, and where 
is the place of understanding ?" (See Job, xxviii. verse 12 
to the end.) 

Parents, teachers, preachers, why not begin where God 
begins, and begin with God, with Jesus, where happi- 
ness begins, pure, eternal — glory on glory? "Wisdom's 
ways are pleasant : all her paths are peace." Happy is the 
one tliat findeth her, man, woman, or child. " For the mer- 



POPULAR AMUSEMEN^TS. 221 

chandise of wisdom is better than the merchandise of silver, 
and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious 
than rubies, and all the things thou canst desire are not to 
be compared to her." Prov. iii. 14, 15. "The wicked are 
like the troubled sea, w^hen it cannot rest ; whose waters 
cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace to the wicked, 
saith my God." Isa. Ivii. 20, 21. 

Seeking happiness in amusements, save in those which 
God hath appointed, is seeking it where it cannot be found, 
and will be a broken reed, whereon if a man lean, it will go 
into his hand and pierce it." 

Waste not the prime of youth in idle dalliance ; but 
plant rich seeds to blossom in manhood, and bear fruit 
when old. 

Obey God in household discipline. Seek first for your 
little ones, the pearl of pearls, the " wisdom which is from 
above, which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to 
be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without parti- 
ality, and without hypocrisy;" teach them what it is to 
fear God, love God, obey him, have respect unto all his 
commandments, to delight in the law of God after the in- 
ner man, to say with David, " How sweet are thy words to 
my taste ! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." 
Teach them "the w^ay the holy prophets went," Moses, 
Samuel, John, and little Timothy, who became wise unto 
salvation from his childhood, through the holy Scriptures ; 
in a word, see that your children grow up in the Lord from 
early infancy. Where now the relish for trifles light as air, 
things that perish with the using? How was Samuel's 
time occupied when a very little boy, Avhose mother had 
dedicated him to the Lord ere he saw the light of the sun, 
before " curiously wrought in the lower parts of the earth ?" 
Holiness to the Lord was written on his forehead, stereo- 



222 POPULAR AMUSEMENTS. 

typed in his heart, his words were words of wisdom season- 
ed with salt, edifying, administering grace to his hearers. 
His little soul was on fire to do justice, love mercy, and 
walk humbly with God. His chief and only amusement 
was, doubtless, meditation in God's word, searching for 
truth day and night, in diffusing light and life. Did Han- 
nah or Elkanah rack their brains to find out something to 
amuse this child of promise, whose entire being was conse- 
crated to God's service, whose whole soul was intent on 
glorifying God ? Did Zachariah and Elizabeth study day 
and night to find. out something of a trifling nature to amuse 
their little son John, who was full of love and the Holy 
Spirit from his birth ? 

Beloved parents, we repeat the interrogation renewedly, 
Why not begin where God begins, and where every wise 
master-builder begins — on solid Rock, a sure foundation — 
the " Rock of Ages ?" Save your time, your money, your 
anxious cares, sleepless nights in search for amusements 
that never satisfy. When children are once in Jesus, the 
new and living way, born of the Spirit, regenerated, sancti- 
fied, rooted and grounded in love, what will amuse them so 
much as prayer and praise, redeeming the time, gathering 
up the fragments that nothing be lost ? 

It will be their meat and their drink to do the will of 
their heavenly Father, imitate Jesus in going about doing 
good. 

The only justifiable amusement, the only amusement that 
is pleasing to God, that will count for time and eternity, is 
a change from one good thing to another good thing ; from 
one act of useful employment to another act of useful em- 
ployment; from performing one deed of mercy and charity 
to another deed of mercy and charity. Our whole lifetime 
from childhood to old age, exclusively Godward, is none 



POPULAR AMUSEMEXTS. 223 

too long to prepare for lieaven, glory everlasting, made up 
of good things, benevolent, merciful, gracious, glorious. 

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness ?" said Jesus, when only twelve years of age. Christ 
is our exemplar, and " if any man or any child have not 
the spirit of Christ he is none of his." Children are bound 
by the same law and Gospel as those of riper years. There 
is one law and one Gospel for great folks and little folks. 
The burden of our testimony, all we contend for, all God 
requires, is expressed in this one precept, " Train up a child 
in the way he should go." This way is the way of holiness, 
truth, and love. 

God's precepts are as binding on the lambs of the flock, 
as on those of advanced age. Does God anywhere make 
distinction between little folks and great folks, touching 
their moral deportment ? 

This amusement of doing good, of making everybody 
happy, flying on wings of mercy, is what all holy beings 
delight in on earth and in heaven — angels and spirits glo- 
rified. Little children, likewise, will delight in this same 
heavenly and blessed amusement when trained in the way 
of God's commandments. 

The responsibility of this godly training rests uf)on 
parents and guardians. Every parent is solemnly bound 
to educate his sons and daughters in this delightful way in 
which they will abjure all other amusements, turn away 
from them with disgust, except the amusement which God 
in his holy word has pointed out. 

Parents beloved, will you train your little ones thus to 
be living epistles, known and read of all men, ornaments in 
society, "olive-plants around your table," precious, lively 
stones in God's house, active in the divine life ? " Accord- 
ing to your faith be it unto you." 



224 




KUINS OF TYRE. 



Little readers and great readers, what proved the utter 
destruction of this once great and beautiful city — sin? 
Nothing else. God's wrath was visited upon it for the 
same reason that it was upon Sodom and the cities of the 
plain ; the Canaanites, whose cup of iniquity was full ; and 
upon Babylon the great, now no more forever ! " The day 
of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is lifted 
up ; and he shall be brought low."^ Isa. ii. 12. 

Old Tyre withstood the mighty Assyrian power five 
years. It afterward held out thirteen years against ISTeb- 
uchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and was at length taken. 
There are now no signs of the ancient city ; and as it is a 
sandy shore, the face of everything is altered, and the 
great aqueduct is in many parts almost buried in the sand. 
Thus has been fulfilled the prophecy of Ezekiel, " Thou 



RUINS OF TYRE. 225 

shalt be built no more : though thou be sought for, yet 
shalt thou never be found again." Ezek. xxvi. 21. 

When Alexander stormed the city, he set fire to it. This 
circumstance was foretold. " And Tyrus did build herself 
a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine 
gold as mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will cast 
her out, and he will smite her power in the sea ; and she 
shall be devoured with fire." Zecli. ix. 4, 5. 

Do not these lessons teach us, in blazing fire, that it is a 
fearful evil and bitter thing to sin against God ? 

If God in justice flashes thus terribly upon nations fa- 
vored with the mere glimmerings of gospel light, what may 
not ice expect, exalted to heaven, basking in the mid-day 
sun of gospel glory ? 

Will it not be said of us as a guilty nation, as of Caper- 
naum, " Thou which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be 
brought down to hell : for if the mighty works which have 
been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have 
remained until this day. But I say unto you. That it shall 
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of 
judgment, than for thee." 

Judgments terrible, heartrending, upon little sinners and 
big sinners, that continue to sin, defy Omnipotence to 
arms ? Who doubts it ? 

God calls ; we answer not, — " like the deaf adder that 
stoppeth her ear — which will not hearken to the voice of 
the charmers, charming never so wisely." 

" Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, 
ye do always resist the Holy Spirit ; as your fathers did, 
so do ye." Acts^ vii. 50. 

We have as a nation, as a church, become vain in rob- 
bery, and have received robbery for burnt-offering, which 
God hates ! 

10* 



226 



AMUSEMENTS— WHEK INNOCENT, WHEN SINFUL. 

Object to amusements for little folks or great folks? 
When — on what occasion ? ISTot a breath of it. We de- 
light to see every one, little and big, mounting up on 
eagle's wings joyfully. The whole world is alive, on fire^ 
with things beautiful, musical. 

The twinkling stars, the sun, the moon, all nature pours 
forth her sweet melodies. TMie little hills skip like lambs, 
the mountains break forth into singing, and all the trees 
of the forest clap their hands joyfully ; the birds of the air 
amuse themselves ; the beasts of the field, the fishes of the 
sea. Sooner hush the tuneful lark, tie the legs of the skip- 
ping squirrel, stop the flowers from blooming, or the woods 
and the fields from growing green, as deprive the buoyant 
youth of innocent recreation. 

The question is not between amusements and no amuse- 
ments, but between those that are innocent and those that 
are hurtful. The world is on fire for something to feed the 
passions, gratify a corrupt taste. Yolumes on volumes are 
written, regions above and regions below ransacked to kill 
time and murder the soul ! The rush is perpetual after the 
ephemeral or evanescent, the thirst to sip at the foul sedi- 
ment of corrupt pleasure, which, at last, biteth like a ser- 
pent and stingeth like an adder ! when every sunbeam is 
winged with glory, every snow-flake drops heavenly bene- 
dictions from the skies for our pleasure. 

God is love. Gladness meets us at every stej^ ; our 
walks, our rides, our pleasant labor, our social interviews, 
our books, our innocent, virtuous, hallowed festivities, af- 
ford ample and varied means for rational exhilaration. 
Who, then, but a fool or a madman, would plunge into the 
whirl of fashionable dissipation ? 



AMUSEMENTS. 227 

All amusements and recreations, lawful and innocent, are 
those, and only those, which tend to promote health of 
body, vigor of mind, purity of soul, and thus qualify for a 
better discharge of higher and more important duties. 

We consider all amusements or pastimes which tend to 
stimulate the passions unduly, excite impure emotions, and 
corrupt the heart, sinful, and to be strictly avoided. Oh, 
that parents and children would see this and feel this ! 
How many are now weeping tears ofhlood! yea, lifting up 
their eyes in torments, where the worm dieth not and the 
fire is not quenched, for the first step in this downward 
path. One wrong step prepares the way for another : the 
way of evil is downward. 

" Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in 
the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass by it, turn from it, 
and pass away." Prov, iv. 14, 15. 

-Dancing-parties, masquerades, every species of gambling, 
chess, checkers, marble and card-playing, prize-fighting, 
cock-fighting, betting of all kinds, horse-racing, the public 
revel, the barbecue, the circus, the theatre, the billiard- 
table, the fancy fair, the soiree, the tea-party, going from 
house to house on the first day of the • new year, partaking 
to surfeiting rich and costly dainties, sipping the wine-cup, 
deemed by some innocent, are more or less expensive, fool- 
ish, hurtful, soul-destroying, pitfalls of Satan. 

The most popular amusements are inconsistent with the 
principles of Christianity, hazardous to the soul's life. 
Theatres in all ages have been nurseries of vice, sinks of 
iniquity, places of abominations, and strongholds of the 
devil. The very atmosphere around these haunts of ini- 
quity is polluting ! In these strongholds of Satan are per- 
sonated the worst characters in vivid colors, utterances 
given to j^rofane and immoral sentiments, and they are 



228 AMUSEMENTS. 

resorted to by the most vicious characters. Thus they 
offer the contamination of corrupt associations, and are 
prolonged to late hours, which are additional sources of 
danger. Every diversion, beloved reader, attended with 
dissipation, cruelty, immorality, and impiety, everything 
giving pain to a fellow-creature, everything tending to 
vitiate or pollute the mind, or render it indisposed to devo- 
tion, must be wrong and strictly avoided. 

We have no right to visit any place of amusement from 
which we cannot return to our closets with as ardent a 
flame of holy devotion as when we left them. Some of the 
amusements we consider lawful and innocent, and which 
may be safely recommended to persons enjoying health, 
strength of body and mind, are gardening, walking and 
riding, sacred music, drawing, painting, botany, a survey 
of natural and artificial curiosities, the use of the globes, 
the telescope, the microscope, useful company, agreeable 
conversation, and entertaining books. 

" Let us not so wrong and vilify the bounties of Provi- 
dence, as to allow for a moment that the sources of inno- 
cent amusement are so rare that men must be driven, 
almost by constraint, to such as are of doubtful quality. 
On the contrary, such has been the Creator's goodness, 
that almost every one alike of our j^hysical, intellectual, 
and moral faculties, and the same may be said of the whole 
creation which we see around us, is not only calculated to 
answer the proper end of its being by its subsei'viency to 
some purpose of solid usefulness, but to be the instrument 
of administering pleasure. 

" Our Maker, also, in his kindness, has so constructed us, 
that even mere vicissitude is grateful and refreshing, a 
consideration which should prompt us often to seek, from a 
prudent variation of useful pursuits, that recreation for 



AMUSEMENTS. 229 

which we are apt to resort to what is altogether unpi'oduc- 
tive and useless. 

" Yes, rich and multiplied are the springs of innocent 
relaxation. The Christian relaxes in the temperate use of 
all the gifts of Providence. Imagination, and taste, and 
genius, and the beauties of creation, and the works of art, 
lie open to him. He relaxes in the feast of reason, in the 
intercourse of society, in the sweets of friendship, in the 
endearments of love, in the exercises of hope, of confidence, 
of joy, of gratitude, of universal good-will, of all the benev- 
olent and generous affections, which, by the gracious ordi- 
nance of our Creator, while they disinterestedly intend 
only happiness to others, are most surely productive to us 
of complacency and peace." 

We might mention numerous other things equally inno- 
cent and useful ; but this is sufiicient to prove how easy we 
may be amused, without running after the silly frivolities 
of an unsanctified world, and which, under the j)retence of 
enjoying necessary recreations, debase our nature, and in- 
volve us in misery and disgrace. 

A passion for amusement wastes time, enfeebles the 
body, dissipates the mind, destroys usefulness, and leads to 
great expense. " He that loveth pleasure," says Solomon, 
" shall be a poor man." 



" Be thou not envious against evil men, neither desire to 
be with them : for their heart studieth destruction, and 
their lips talk of mischief. Through wisdom is a house 
builded ; and by understanding it is established." Prov. 
xxiv. 1-3- 



230 




SEE THEM AT IT, YOUN'G READERS? 



Diligent ? Every moment is grasped eagerly, for good 
things. They read and write, write and read. These you 
see seated at the table are students. They study for God — • 
to glorify him ; and no one, male or female, little or big, 
should be permitted to study the languages, law, or theol- 
ogy, things scientific or historical, cultivate the intellect, 
improve the understanding, in any way, save to be exchi- 
sively Godward, or heaven here, heaven above, heaven for- 
ever. All our studyings for high things or low, this science 
or that, this particular branch of literature or that, at home 
or abroad, should be unreservedly for the advancement of 
the Kedeemer's kingdom, salvation now, salvation forever. 

Are you, little readers, enjoying the facilities of a good 
education ? What your motives in pursuing your course 
of study day by day ? Unlimitedly for Jesus, to promote 
the best interests of your Lord and Saviour, and the de- 
molishing Satan's kingdom, root and branch ? If so, go on ! 
" amen !" go on ! speed your course, store your mind richly 
with a sanctified literature, human and divine. But stop ! 
are you for certain, and in very deed, newly born, regen- 



231 

erated, following on to know the Lord ? Are you in Christ 
Jesiis, rooted and grounded, is your soul mounting upw^ard 
on eagle's wings heavenward, with faith, permanent, un- 
shaken, a hope sure and steadfast — is it truly so ? Well, 
on and on, intellectually and spiritually; study, study — 
pray, pray — believe, believe ! Get your little souls on fire 
for God and his glory, and we care not how scientific, rich- 
ly laden with intellectual lore, how far you go in the culti- 
vation of all the powers of your being. We rejoice to see 
every one of the rising age eminently learned, on the moun- 
tain-top of all that is glowingly eloquent, beautiful, majes- 
tic, soul-inspiring, soaring to the third heaven, swaying the 
minds and hearts of millions in virtue's path. 



Children are the property of the Lord. As such, no 
created being has a right to misuse that property. But 
the parent who does not educate his child so as to glorify 
God, does misuse that property ; he robs God of his own, 
yea worse, he takes that which belongs to God, and gives 
it into the hands of the devil. What sin more base than to 
rob God of his heritage, and transfer it into the hands of 
Satan ? A steward is held responsible for the ofiice and au- 
thority with which he is invested. How great, then, are 
the responsibilities of parents ! i^or can they be shunned 
without incurring the curses of the Creator's law. Look 
around and behold the testimony. The consequences of 
the neglect and mismanagement of parents may be seen in 
nearly every direction. You see it in the wayward boy in 
the streets, in the outbreaks of his rebellious temper at 
school, and in his savage deportment going to and from 
the house of God. 



!32 



SALVATION SCHOOLS— SCHOOLS OF SALVATION? 

Certainly, what else thought of — talked of — dreamed of? 
Every school, j)ublic or private, seminary, college, univer- 
sity, prophetical or scientific, for little folks and great folks, 
male and female, should be for Jesus — salvation on salva- 
tion ! " Holiness to the Lord " written in golden capitals 
on its walls and door-posts. 

Teachers, superintendents, professors in every depart- 
ment, should be salvation — on salvation— ^re on £re 
heavenly — glory eternal. 

The face of the janitor even, or door-keeper, of every in- 
stitution of learning, should shine holiness, beautifully, 
glowingly ! 

No teacher should be allowed to impart instruction to 
the rising age (not even the first rudiments) save God dwell 
in him richly in all wisdom. 

What! build up a seminary for little folks and great 
folks, and not for Jesus — altogether for Jesus, from first to 
last ? Educate boys and girls, with hearts wicked, un- 
blessed, without a spark of redeeming grace ? VThat good 
will an education do to those on the side of Satan ? The 
more intellectual-light educational they have, the more 
speedily will they build up the kingdom of darkness, death 
and damnation ! This is true of Voltaire, Tom Paine, 
Hume, and others despising the day of grace. 

" There is no God, the fool in secret said- 
There is no God that rules in earth or sky. 
Tear off the band that folds the wretch's head, 
That God may burst upon his faithless eje." 

V^hat avail learning, of the highest order, while the 
heart is at enmity with God ? — while in the gall of bitter- 
ness and bonds of iniquity, exposed every moment to the 
pains of hell ? An education, merely intellectual, without 



SALVATIOK SCHOOLS. 233 

saving grace, proves a curse instead of a blessing. A 
learned man, without the fear of God before his eyes and 
grace in his soul, has it in his power to wield a more power- 
ful and fearful influence on the side of evil. " He that is 
not for me is against me, and he that gathereth not with 
me' scattereth abroad." 

" What is the world without Christ ? What is human 
life without Christianity? What is knowledge without 
grace? Nothing but a showy deception, nothing but a 
specious vanity ! If the age needs any one thing above 
another, it is Christ in the schools. It needs sanctified 
learning. No one has either a call or a right to teach the 
youth of the land, except those who are able to answer the 
question of the great Master, ' Lovest thou me ?' Only to 
those who can say yes to this searching question, has Christ 
ever given the commission, ' Feed my lambs.' An insti- 
tution of learning where the Christian life is not made to 
underlie all knowledge, and held to be the principle that 
ought to control and direct all knowing, is nothing but a 
manufactory of brighter and sharper rogues than those 
which spring up from the vulgar crowd. Build up knowl- 
edge upon a bad heart, and you furnish its possessor only 
with a greater power of mischief. 'Educated nature is 
educated vice.' A wicked youth is only the more danger- 
ous for his smartness." 



THE FIHESIDE SCHOOL BLESSED. 

The fireside is a seminary of infinite importance. It is 
important because it is universal, and because the educa- 
tion it bestows being woven with the woof of childhood, 
gives form and color to the whole texture of life. 




CHARLIE'S STUDIO, 

Do you see him, young reader, how entirely absorbed 
he is in his lessons ? His eye is fixed *on the one thing ; so 
much so, he neither sees nor hears his approaching sister. ' 

"Whatsoever thy hands find to do, do it with thy 
might ; fi)r there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, 
nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." 



235 



THE FIRST STEP— BEWARE OF IT. 

" Keep thy heart with all diligence^ for out of it are the issues of life:'' 
Prov. iv. 23. 

The first step in a downward course should be shunned 
as a deadly serpent ! None become abandoned at once ; 
we cannot have too clear an idea of the danger of the 
" first steps " in any sinful career. Those whose business 
and profession it is to ruin men, well understand this dan- 
ger. What kindly allurements and tender cords of en- 
ticement do they use as first to decoy the unsuspecting and 
unwary young men! The most unsuspected traps and 
snares have at first been laid, until thousands of interesting 
youths of both sexes have been led on, hardly aware at first 
that they were in the ruinous course, until they have fallen, 
drawing others along with them into the lowest vortexes 
of infamy. And so it is always bidding us beware of the 
first steps in sin. So Bunyan's path over the stile, or that 
leading into by-meadows, lay ajDparently almost straight 
along with Pilgrim's true road. 

Nor should those parents and others, whose business and 
profession it is to educate mind, and train undying spirits 
for virtue and heaven, be less conscious of the influence of 
" first steps," whether in vice or virtue. Guard these with 
unsleeping vigilance. Among the pernicious activities of 
our time, is the prolific production of novels and romances. 
These are of every grade of mischief in their composition, 
but they have to a large extent a property in common, viz., 
.the policy of artful disguise. The debasing tendency is 
not only veiled, but many times greatly enhanced by the 
arts of rhetoric, and an elaborate and polished diction. 



236 



PERDITION LITERATURE !— SATANIC !— THE WORLD IS 
FULL OF IT ! 

This new enemy does not wait to be sought out ; it re- 
fuses to be avoided. It meets us on the street-cars, in the 
boats, is before us and stares at the passer-by from every 
news-stall, around which groups of young men and boys 
may hourly be seen, eagerly feasting their fancies on scenes 
of debauchery. We may keep our children from the thea- 
tre, and so train them that they shall never desire to fre- 
quent it ; but there is now an educator presented within 
their reach which soon may undermine all the home lessons 
of purity, and, by easy steps, lead them to perdition. 

The teachings of our schools and our churches must be 
to a great extent in vain while these wretched panderers 
to depravity are undoing the work of the school and the 
church. One such periodical may do more evil than many 
pulpits can correct. If this raid of license remains un- 
checked, preaching, teaching, and warning will be alike 
in vain. 

The demoralizing tendency of a large part of the issues 
of the press is positive and wide-sj^read. The brains of 
authors and writers are taxed to their utmost to write and 
re-write tales of the most extravagant and startling de- 
scription, to meet the popular taste. Cross-eyed and 
fevered visions are invoked, the hellish inspiration of the 
intoxicating beverage is called into play, to furnish sensa- 
tion stories, and tragic tales of love, seduction, desertion, 
suicide, and death — murders, elopements, assignations, and 
crimes of damning hue— all written to order to " sell" the 
sheet, and to " sell " the purchaser. 

The tale being written, immense placards decorate the 
walls of the city, illustrated with pictures of assassina- 
tions, or desperate leaps from mountain cliffs, or midnight 



PEEDITIOIS' LIREEATURE. 237 

plunges into the sea, while the pale moon looks down on 
the saddening spectacle. And the eye and heart of the 
young, as they pass along the street, are educated into 
familiarity with the base and sensual passions of the 
vicious, the abandoned, and the lost. The reading of 
these exciting and " thrilling" tales follows, and the ser- 
pent winds his snare around the heart, which loses not its 
hold until thousands" are swept into the damning pool 
whence so few return to the atmosphere of purity or of 
hope. 

It is the duty of every man and woman who loves his 
country, and its better and nobler social life, to exert a 
positive influence against this entire class of perdition 
literature. It is poisoning and corrupting the hearts of 
hundreds of thousands of the youth of our country to-day. 
It is leading scores of thousands insensibly but surely into 
the maelstrom where they will be swallowed up forever. 

" Life's hours'are short and few, 

As transitory as the morning dew. 

'Tis meet that they should be 
Well spent ; for, oh ! if wasted, they but bring 
A present cloy, and, for their closing time, 
Treasure remorse, the spirit's deathless sting." 



NOVELS, ROMANCES, FASHION-PLATES, AND COMICALS. 

Are writers and publishers aware to whose tastes they 
cater, in sending this trash all abroad ? Do they know 
what they are doing and what must prove to be the inevit- 
able result of their work when human accounts and human 
destinies are settled for eternity ? The responsibility of 
dealing with mind^ mind in its forming stage — mind, des- 
tined to expand forever, and perhaps receive its bias from 
a single character or principle presented by their agency, 
has been quite overlooked. 



238 



A RAGE FOR FICTION— THE LIGHT, THE FRIVOLOUS. 

A Harper, a Godey, a Ledger, a " Norwood !" Was 
there ever a period like it, a time when ministers and re- 
ligious editors succumb to this awful, shameful abomina- 
tion ? The flood-gates of iniquity are open wide ; the fever 
is raging intensely, fires are kindling, blazing ! Thus the 
tittle-tattle of the day, the idle, frothy chit-chat, the silly 
laugh, the nonsensical giggle, the empty prattle, the fond- 
ness for the gay and the fashionable, worldly adornments 
and pleasure-seeking, the looseness of morals, the loss of 
virtue, the death of the soul ! Fiction is the starting-point, 
the letting-out of waters, the sparks that kindle the fires of 
hell ! And yet the* work goes on. 

" I want a paper that has long stories in it," said a young 
lady ; and she added, " I don't want a paper for anything 
else." Poor girl ! much to be pitied — and a pitiful appear- 
ance she will make through life — ^^nd what in death ? She 
wants nothing serious, no acquaintance with the history of 
her times, nothing intellectual, soul-saving; nothing but 
newspaper novels ! Empty heads they must be, that can 
find room every week for some ten columns of a sham 
story. Yet these are the heads for which the weekly press 
toils and groans, throwing off by the ten thousand its^ 
sheets of shallow, insipid, and disgusting fiction ; and for 
this an amount of money is paid which a sound literature 
utterly fails to command. Yes, Christian fathers and 
mothers buy this vile trash for their sons and daughters, 
and so minister to their ignorance and destitution of all. 
taste and fitness for life's duties. Doubtless the periodical 
press does more than any other one instrumentality to de- 
cide the opinions, habits of thought, and general character 
of the age. A family will very soon begin to show a sym- 



A RAGE FOR FICTION. 239 

pathy with its weekly or monthly paper, and parent and 
child will soon begin assimilating to it in sentiment and 
feeling ; and as families are, so is the community at large. 
Blind and stupid therefore — yea, worse — are those parents 
who tolerate in their houses a class of papers which are 
good for nothing, then bad — made up of the writings of 
silly, ignorant scribblers, who would be " at the foot" in 
the town school of good morals. Such are the teachers of 
half the present generation. 



SOWING? YES, WE ARE. 

And whatsoever a man sowetJi, that shall he also reap.''^ Gal. vi. 7. 

" We are sowing, we are sowing. 
In eternity to reap ; 
Day by day are harvests growing 
For us, after death's long sleep. 

" We are sowing, we are sowing. 

Thoughts are seeds cast in a field ; 
Every act that we are doing, 
Every word its fruit shall yield. 

" We are sowing, we are sowing. 
And if to the flesh alone. 
Then corruption ever knowing. 
We our sad mistake shall mourn. 

" We are sowing, we are sowing. 
Let it to the Spirit be ; 
Then to light and glory going. 
We shall rei^n eternallv." 



240 




THE FOX IN SEAKCH OF HIS PREY. 

Aee foxes cunning, crafty ? ISlo animal more so. So are 
the wicked — little folks and great folks in the service of Sa- 
tan, that cunning, subtle old serpent that deceived our first 
parents in the garden of Eden. (See Genesis, xxx. 1-4.) 
The fox is not only cunning but voracious and mischievous. 
(Ezek. xiii. 4. Luke xiii. 32.) He is fond of grapes, and 
does much harm in vineyards. (Song, ii. 15.) The fable of 
the fox and the sour grapes is well known both to our lit- 
tle folks and big folks. Herod, that monster of wicked- 
ness and cunning craftiness for Satan, is termed a fox by 
our blessed Saviour. Turn to Luke xiii. 32, and see. Christ 
said to a certain scribe, " The foxes have holes, and the 
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not 
where to lay his head." 

" And didst thou. Saviour, have no home, 
Nor place to lay thine head ? 
Was all the universe too poor, 
To offer thee a bed ? 



THE FOX IN SEARCH OF HIS PREY. 241 

*' Wearied with teaching day by day, 
And for the poor distress'd, 
Making their sorrows all thine own, 
Thou sure hadst need of rest. 

" And shall we, thy disciples, then, 
Be greater than our Lord ? 
Since thou wert poor shall we be rich, 
In all earth can afford ? 

'- Oh no ! to imitate thee, Lord, 
We would our all forsake ; 
Our ' bread ' upon the waters cast. 
Alone for Jesus' sake." 

Little readers, have you forsaken all for Jesus ? .This 
must be to inherit the kingdom : the Lord says so. " Who- 
soever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he 
cannot be my disciple." JLuke^ xiv. 33. Forsake all and 
keep on forsaking, and heaven is yours — glory, glory. For 
Christ says, "Every one that hath forsaken houses, or 
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or chil- 
dren, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hun- 
dredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." 

But many that are "first shall be last ; and the last shall 
be first." Matt. xix. 29, 30. 



Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when 
it is in the power of thy hands to do it. Prov. iii. 27. 

11 



242 



A WARNING TO STUDENTS IN COLLEGES AND SEMIN- 
ARIES. 

BEWARE OF THE SERPENT'S SUGAR-COATED POISONS— POPULAR WORKS OP FICTION. 

Upon no class of persons does the liabitual reading of 
this branch of our literature exert a more pernicious influ- 
ence than upon the young men connected with our colleges 
and other institutions of learning. We have heard it as- 
serted by those whose positions enable them to judge intel- 
ligently in this matter, that there is scarcely an instance on 
record where a young man, who habitually and regularly 
peruses works of fiction during his undergraduate course, 
ever received that degree of mental discipline which is nec- 
essary for a successful entrance upon the great duties of 
life, and which it is the aim of a collegiate course to furnish. 
And,* indeed, it is hard to conceive how the case should be 
otherwise ; for, besides the enormous waste of time, which 
is a necessary consequence of any considerable indulgence 
in novel reading, the mind accustomed to follow some sen- 
timental hero or heroine through all sorts of silly, unheard- 
of adventures, and to revel amid scenes of fancied pleasures 
and happiness, takes little delight in attempting to grapple 
with the more profound truths of philosophy and mathe- 
matics, even when it is not wholly incapacitated to do so. 

It is a lamentable fact, that at least half of the young 
men who graduate each year at our colleges, hardly pos- 
sess even the rudiments of a sound and substantial educa- 
tion. Many, after spending three or four years within the 
walls of a university, possess, in return for their time and 
money, little besides their " diploma," to which, certainly, 
in our day, no great importance can be attached. We 
hazard little in saying that the evil in question may, to a 
very great extent, be traced to the " popular novels," which 



A WARNING TO STUDENTS. 243 

form so imjDortant an element in the composition of the 
students' libraries in many of our colleges. And so long 
as our young men are content to spend the precious mo- 
ments which ought to be devoted to the acquisition of sub- 
stantial knowledge, and to fritter away the knowledge 
which God has given them, in poring over books and peri- 
odicals worse than i^roiitless, to the neglect of all that is 
useful and instructive, just so long are we to expect super- 
ficial thinkers, instead of profound thinkers ; mere triflers 
instead of men. 

The indirect tendency of nine-tenths of the popular nov- 
els of the present day is to inculcat*^ false views of life, and 
to corrupt instead of cultivating the imagination. 



HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD. 

"I HAVE set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, who 
shall never hold their peace^ day nor night : ye that make 
mention of the Lord, keep not silence." 

" Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the 
house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and 
give them warning from me. 

" When I say unto the wicked. Thou shalt surely die ; and 
thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the 
wicked from his wicked way, to save his life ; the same 
wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I 
require at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he 
turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he 
shall die in his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy souL" 

" Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not. 
be burned ?" 



244 



SOMETHING FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS TO 
CONSIDER 

Some decisiv^e and immediate steps should be taken to 
protect the community from the evils resulting from the 
spread of novels and romances. 

There is no greater danger to a people than the spread 
of a light and frothy literature. It is a poison which 
strikes the heart of society, and causes its pernicious influ- 
ence to permeate every vein of the social system. It con- 
tributes more than any other cause to prepare the young 
for a vicious career, to lay the foundation of criminal life, 
to fill prisons and penitentiaries, promote licentiousness in 
both sexes. 

How many boys of good promise have been turned into 
the path of vice by reading novel-books and papers ! How 
many girls have been led into immorality, debasement, 
and ruin by the same cause ! Cases frequently transpire 
in which some lost one, at the close of a life of crime, tells 
how he or she was led from the ways of rectitude by non- 
sensical reading. And the instances which thus come to 
light are only as one in ten thousand. The power of the 
press, when directed aright, is understood and appreciated 
by everybody, and, of course, its power must be equally 
great when perverted to evil use. In a great city like our 
own, the danger resulting from the light, popular, fascinat- 
ing literature is beyond conception. The influences with 
which the young' are surrounded in such a city, the traps 
and pitfalls which beset both sexes on every side, make it 
a comparatively easy thing to lead them astray. 

The mind of youth, yet in the tender and plastic state, 
receives evil imj)ressions readily, and permits them to be 
moulded into a form which time cannot erase. There is no 



SOMETHING FOR PARENTS TO CONSIDER. 245 

subject, therefore, to which parents should give greater 
attention than the character of the reading matter that 
they introduce into their homes. The father, in the fable, 
who took the half-frozen serpent into his house to warm it, 
and then left it with his family, did a less dangerous thing 
than the father who now takes a vitiated paper into his 
household. The serpent could only poison and destroy the 
body ; but the vicious journal leads to the destruction of 
both soul and body. 

No age or sex escapes the blighting influence of novels, 
romances, and silly love-tales, advertised and puffed by 
religious editors. Novel-reading kills time, cultivates a 
vicious taste, sears the conscience, hardens the heart, begets 
false views of life and the world, indisposes and unfits for 
the ordinary duties and trials that await us, destroys the 
benevolent sympathies of our nature, unfits the mind for 
devotion and Bible-reading. It leads to levity, silly or 
trifling conversation, foolish talking and jesting, idolatry 
in dress, folly and fashion, the ball-room and the theatre. 
It undermines the principles of virtue and chastity, drives 
individuals from the sanctuary, closes the Bible, alienates 
the heart from God, and plunges the soul into temporal 
ruin and eternal death ! 

The habit grows with our growth, and if permitted to 
run on will pollute the soul even in the world to come ! 
The Church is asleep in regard to this evil, this curse of 
curses — this artful stratagem of Satan to ruin soul, mind, 
and body ! Ministers and editors are asleep, parents are 
. asleep, while these serpents are crawling in their midst. 
Awake, will they, ere the very foundation-stones of our 
social and religious edifices fall to rise no more ? A flood, 
such as the world never saw, of corruption and crime over- 
whelms us, against which no one lifts up a standard. 



246 




NOVEMBER 

" The leaves are fading and falling, 
The winds are rough and wild, 
The birds have ceased their calling; 
But let me tell you, dear child, 

" Though day by day, as it closes, 
Doth darker and colder grow, 
The roots of the bright red roses 
Will keep alive in the snow. 

" And when the winter is over. 

The boughs will get new leaves. 
The quail come back to the clover, 
And the swallow back to the eaves. 



NOVEMBER. 247 



" The robin will wear on his bosom 
A vest that is bright and new, 
And the loveliest wayside blossom 
Will shine with the sun and dew. 

" The leaves to-day are whirling, 
The brooks are dry and dumb ; 
But let me tell you, sweet darling. 
The spring will be sure to come. 

" There must be rough, cold weather, 
And winds and rains so wild ; 
Not all good things together 
Come to us here, dear child." 

" So, when some dear joy loses 
Its beauteous summer glow. 
Think how the roots of the roses 
Are kept alive in the snow." 



WOKK TO DAY. 



" Life's hours are short and few, 
As transitory as the morning dew : 

'Tis meet that they should be 
Well spent ; for oh ! if wasted, they but bring 
A present cloy, and, for their closing time. 
Treasure remorse, the spirit's deathless sting." 



248 



SOMETHING NOW ESPECIALLY FOR THE LITTLE 
FOLKS. 

Young friends, a word to you now, if you please — exclu- 
sively. We have been talking and talking to the great folks, 
chapter after chapter, without a lisp scarcely to our little 
readers. Indeed, we have been so completely absorbed 
for some time in pointing out the duties and privileges of 
parents and teachers, how they should walk softly, obey 
God in rearing the tender thought, in keeping little folks 
in the strait and narrow way, that leadeth unto life eter- 
nal — glory here, glory forever — that for the time being 
we almost lost sight of the little members of our audience. 
This is not as it should be ; we intended in the outset to 
say a great deal more to the little folks than to the great 
folks; nor have we lost sight of this intention. Here is 
the point on which everything good, beautiful, merciful, 
and gracious turns. Only get the little folks to do just 
right at home and abroad, in doors and out, keep the peace, 
do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God, " strike while 
the iron is hot^^"* and the work is done, and tcell done ; salva- 
tion goes forth streamingly, blazes out, Satan's kingdom 
totters, shakes to its foundations. Everything pernicious, 
evil-disposed, contrary to sound doctrine, purity, and love 
is scattered to the four winds. 

It is the little ones, even the very littlest, we labor for ; 
stretch every nerve to elevate, purify, and sanctify, qualify, 
for eminent usefulness, and make them meet for the king- 
dom. 

You have listened, we hope, with profound attention to 
what we have said to your dear parents and teachers on 
the subject of holy discipline, the indispensableness of 
watching over the little folks with more than human vigi- 
lance, of keej^ing them as the apple of the eye, hiding them 



SOMETHIXG FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS. 249 

under the shadow of the Almighty's wing. Moreover, you 
heard us say pointedly, how exceedingly important it is to 
subdue evil tempers in little folks, their stubborn, selfish 
wills, and bring them into sweet, heavenly, lamb-like sub- 
jection at once. We exhorted parents, as you very well 
know, in this book, not to allow children to play truant, 
mingle with evil associates in the street-school, or at any 
public resort, to avoid all evil and contaminating influ- 
ences, and keep their little hands busily employed every 
moment in good things, useful, profitable, praiseworthy. 
Again, you remember we said to the parents, that every 
little boy and girl should be richly imbued, gospelly, in 
things heavenly and divine, qualified amply for every good 
word and work, be blazing firebrands of holiness, go about 
missionating, doing good as Jesus did. We were very par- 
ticular, also, in specifying every minutia touching how little 
folks should be trained " in the way they should go," from 
the start ; how well they should behave at home and abroad, 
be " diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving the 
Lord," be the salt of the earth, cities set on hills, lights 
in the world, bright and shining. 

We dwelt on these items from the fact that this heavenly 
training of the little folks was the only sure way of making 
the world better and happier; to do away with the pre- 
vailing abominations, intemperance, profanity, lewdness, 
unbelief, hardness of heart, the desecrating holy time, the 
heaven-daring infidelity that stalks boldly in open day, 
sins in high places and in low. Indeed, we said, and do 
now say emphatically, we see not how it is possible for 
better times till there be an entire revolution, turning and 
overturning in family order, the governmental in the nur- 
sery, a complete renovation in educating little folks in the 
way marked out in God's Book. 

11* 



250 

EXCUSE LITTLE FOLKS FOR MISDOING? WHEN— 
WHAT FOR? 

Why should we excuse little folks for doing bad things 
any sooner than big folks, when they do wickedly or 
things they ought not, which God forbids ? Such an idea 
is not even dreamed of. 

Make a diifei-ence in this respect ? Not a particle. God 
don't — why should we ? God threatens all sinners alike : 
" The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all 
ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men, who hold the 
truth in unrighteousness ; because that which may be 
known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shown it 
to them." Mom. i. 18, 19. What little boy or girl don't 
know it is an evil and bitter thing to sin against God ? 

We warn little folks, when unruly and doing wicked 
things, as readily, forcibly, minutely, with as good grace 
and as certain as we do the biggest of the big, when they do 
wrong, take the scorner's seat. And ought you not, little 
readers, express heartfelt gratitude to God for any one to 
be kind and faithful enough to stay your downward eoui'se, 
hedge up your way that leadeth to destruction ? Say you 
not, " Let the righteous smite me ; it shall be a kindness : 
and let him reprove me ; it shall be an excellent oil, that 
shall not break my head ?" Ps. cxli. 5. Besides, we must 
clear our own skirts of your blood : " Thou shalt in any- 
wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him." 

Silence gives consent. If we suffer you to go on in sin 
unrebuked, the guilt rests upon us. Do you doubt this, 
young readers? Turn, if you please, to Ezek. iii. 17-19; 
here you see the fact verified — stated clearly and forcibly. 
Remember, also, the person who exposes your wrong-doing 
is your best friend — and instead of taking offence, you 
should express your hearty thankfulness, your devout 



MISD0I2s^GS OF LITTLE FOLKS. 251 

gratitude to the reprover. Suppose you are left to your- 
self, your own deceitful heart — that no one exposes your 
folly and wickedness, your disobedience and recklessness, 
pulls you out of the fire — what then ? Where your repu- 
tation, your welfare for time and eternity ? 

Some little boys and girls, and some big ones too, take 
offence, are quite huffy and puffy, even wrathy^ when 
their faults are exposed, their sins brought to light ! Does 
not this indicate a proud, haughty, rebellious spirit — a case 
almost fit for burning ? 

" Correction is grievous to him that forsaketh the way — 
and he that hateth reproof shall die." 

" The soul that scorns the mandate, dies, 

And meets a fiery day ; 
No more the sovereign eye of God 

overlooks the crimes of men : 
His heralds now are sent abroad 

To warn the world of sin." 

Them that sin openly, rebuke openly. Where does the 
Bible spare offenders — great heads or little heads ? No 
matter who it is that sins — kings or menials, princes or the 
man on the dunghill — his name is called out, that all 
heaven and all hell may hear, and i-ebels against the Most 
High, in open day, are held up to the gaze of the universe. 



BEHOLD ! THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH ! 

Awake ! shake off thy slumbers ! put thee on 
Thy beautiful garments, let thy lamp be trimm'd. 
For lo, the cry, " Behold ! the -Bridegroom cometh !" 
Is ringing in the air. Then come thou forth. 
Forth from the world, with all its vanities ; 
Forth from the world, with all its vileness ; 
Forth from the world, that hates thy Lord and thee ; 
Make thyself ready — lo ! he is at hand. 



252 




HERE THEY ARE, HUDDLETY-HUDDLE, LITTLE FOLKS 
AND BIG FOLKS, 



All mixed up, grandpa, grandma, little babies, and all. 
Beautiful scene, ain't it, little folks? Cold? Cold as 
Freezeland ! 

" Cold the wind is Mowing, 
Fast has it been snowing I 
The lambs are in the shed, 
Well-housed and fed." 



DECEMBER. • 253 

Old December has come round again with his white 
locks. He is pretty cold, almost freezing. His very breath 
has Jack Frost in it. But how cheerful he makes things. 
The sleigh-bells are ringing ; sleds are running. He brings 
merry Christmas ; and what heaps of presents for the 
children ! Nor does he forget little Bare Toes and Ragged 
Knees. He nips them, to be sure ; but only to make us 
remember to look in our drawers and find socks and flan- 
nels to keep them warm. Do not forget the poor. That 
is what December whispers through the keyhole, breathes 
on the window-pane, and howls round the house. 

It says, "Make home happy." Brothers and sisters 
round the same fireside, get out your nice books, and see 
that you spend the winter evenings in a way to make each 
one happier and better. 

No matter how many little folks and great folks, fathers 
and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers in a family, 
in summer or winter, and babies also, heaps on heaps, if so 
be all is clock-work, peace, joy, salvation ; if so be all the 
little ones are trained for Jesus. The more in number the 
better, the happier, the more joyful. 

Every additional new-comer to the common stock adds 
renewed joy fulness and thanksgivings, just as heaven above 
is made more joyful by the increased numbers washed 
clean, made white in the blood of the Lamb. 

Oh, what blessed encouragement have parents for obey- 
ing God in household duty. Remember, Christian parent, 
it is not enough to pray for, or even with your children, if 
you do not al-so instruct them ; and it will be in vain to in- 
struct them, if your example contradicts your teaching; 
and in vain will be the prayer, example, and instruction, 
if, like Eli, when your children do wrong you restrain 
them not. 



254 



DRAWING THE CORDS A LITTLE TIGHTER. 

Does any one of our little readers say by way of apology 
for sinning, my parents are wicked, and take no pains to 
train me for Jesus, in the way I should go, care not whether 
I am good or bad, on the way to heaven or on the road to 
hell ? Suppose your father and mother, little reader, are as 
wicked as Ahab and Jezebel, or a bloody Manasseh, will 
their sinning exonerate you, or be a safe plea for walking 
in their steps ? Were not little folks, in the days of Noah, 
swept away in the flood with the big folks ? What for ? 
For their sins ? Unquestionably ! Mark, also, what God 
says in Deut. xxiv. 16. "The fathers shall not be put to 
death for the children, neither shall the children be put to 
death for the fathers : every man shall be put to death for 
his own sin." 

Turn to Ezek. xviii. 20. "The son shall not bear the 
iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the in- 
iquity of the son. The soul that sinneth it shall die." 

Did little Samuel sin, yield to temptation, though sur- 
roimded by evil examples on every side ? Iniquity stared 
him full in the face, even in the house of God. Read, if 
you please, the second chapter of the first book of Samuel, 
and you will see how this blessed little boy was situated, 
and how he kept his garments unspotted in the very midst 
of corrupting influences. 

Take the case of Josiah ; what a blessed, good child he 
was. What his father ? Wicked ? Look and see : read his 
life. " He did evil in the sight of the Lord." And Josiah 
kept on being good all the w^ay. As he grew older he 
grew wiser and better. Very few kings did more blessedly 
than he. 

He bej^an to reign at the age of eight years and reigned 



DRAWING THE CORDS A LITTLE TIGHTER. 255 

thirty-one years. (See 2d Kings, xx. 23. 2d Cbron. 
xxxiv. 35.) 

Again, what think you of those forty and two little chil- 
dren that were torn to pieces by two she-bears from the 
wood, who mocked that good man Elisha, saying, " Go up, 
thou bald head." (Turn to 2d Kings, ii. 23, 24.) These 
children wicked ? No doubt of it, wicked as Satan could 
make them, and their parents likewise; but did God 
spare them because they were little, and because their 
parents were wicked and neglected to train them in the 
fear, wisdom, and love of God ? Judgments came duly, 
terribly ! They knew it was wrong to mock the holy pro- 
phet Elisha, and every little boy and girl knows it is wrong 
and a great evil to sin against God. These inspired in- 
stances are left on record for all to look at, little folks and 
big folks, with fear and trembling ! 

" How far may we go in sin — 
How long will God forbear ? 
Where does hope end, and where begin 
The confines of despair ? 

" An answer from the skies is sent : 
Ye that from God depart, 
While it is called to-day repent, 
And harden not your heart." 



" Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord ; that walk- 
eth in his ways. 

" For thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands : happy shalt 
thou be, and it shall be well with thee." JPs, cxxviii. 1, 2. 



256 
OPENING EYES— KEEPING EYES OPEN. 

" The light of the eye refresheth the heart.'''' 

You^'G friends, do you open your eyes wide, keep them 
open, when you speak, when you sing ? In speaking to 
persons, do you look them in the face smilingly, with hum- 
ble confidence? Some little folks when spoken to, and 
when addressing others, look down, or sideways, to the 
i-ight or to the left. Is this commendable ? Again, some 
great folks and some little folks, when addressing an audi- 
ence or speaking before a public assembly, close their eyes ! 
Is .this polite or graceful ? Is it doing themselves and those 
to whom they are speaking justice ? What are eyes made 
for? The eyes of the dead are closed. When sleeping, 
our eyes are closed. When awake, our eyes should be 
open wide for good, love, and mercy. The eye is beau- 
tiful, significant; it spealcs^ tells the thought within. 
Boys and girls that are honest, walking uprightly, keep- 
ing a conscience void of offence toward God and man, 
need not fear or be ashamed to look everybody full in the 
face, in little circles or in great circles, before an audience 
of thousands, with holy boldness. A holy look, beaming 
from a holy, sanctified soul, frequently rivets conviction on 
the minds and hearts of sinners. If we live holily, we shall 
look holily, speak holily. The eyes mean something, for 
good or for evil. If the eye is single, it utters a voice, elo- 
quent, soul-piercitfig, soul-cheering. It preaches powerfully ; 
but how can it, if closed ? All the passions of the human 
soul are vividly portrayed in the eye. The Christian 
graces, likewise, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, 
long-sufiering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, love. God 
is either honored or dishonored by the eye. Let your eyes 
speak for God, for glory, for salvation. 



257 




HIS FINGERS ARE COLD, AIN'T THEY ? TERRIBLE ! 

Poor boy without mittens, don't you pity him, little 
folks ? Winter ? Certainly it is. See the snowflakes 
falling. 



SNOW, E^IBLEM OF PURITY. 

" Theee is something so^:>z«re in the falling snow, 

As it comes on its wings so light, 
And mantles the valleys and plains below 

In a robe of spotless white ; 
That I love to gaze thro' the misty air, 

Where the broad flakes are at play. 
And offer a silent, earnest prayer. 

That my heart was as pure as they ; 
That every thought and wish might be 
The emblem of such purity." 



258 



HINTS TO BOYS AND GIRLS ON GOOD MANNERS. 

1. Nevek look over another person when he is writing 
a letter, or reading that which does not concern you. 

2. Never enter another's room abruptly. Have you 
special business ? knock gently-at tlie door, or ask permis- 
sion to enter. 

3. Never select the best articles of food at the table. 
Wait till you are helped. Be modest, polite, temperate. 

4. Never ask trifling or foolish questions, or inquire 
about things with which you are already familiar. "A 
fool's voice is known by a multitude of words." 

5. Never speak unless you have something to say — think 
twice before you speak once. " In the multitude of words 
there wanteth not sin : but he that refraineth his lips is 
wise." Prov. x. 19. 

6. Never dissemble, feign yourself sick or asleep, or un- 
well, to avoid correction or some unpleasant thing. This 
is a species of lying, for which the Lord will not hold you 
guiltless. "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips 
from speaking guile." " Put away from thee a forward 
mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee." " Lying lips 
are an abomination to the Lord." 

7. Never be glad or rejoice at another's calamity or mis- 
fortune, even though he be your enemy. " He that is glad 
at calamities shall not be unpunished." " Does thine ene- 
my hunger, feed him. Does he thirst, give him drink ; by 
so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." " Over- 
come evil with good." 

8. Never mock or ridicule the poor, the infirm, or the 
aged. " He that mocketh the poor, reproacheth his Maker." 
" Better is the poor that walketh in his integrity, than he 
that is perverse in his lips and is a fool." Prov. xix. 1. 



HIXTS TO BOYS AND GIRLS ON GOOD MANNEES. 259 

Read the fearful doom of those wicked children who 
mocked Elisha, the holy prophet of God. (See 2d Kings, 
ii. 23, 24.) 

9. Never set up your own will in opposition to your pa- 
rents or teachers: submit calmly, sweetly, cheerfully. 
" Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is 
as iniquity and idolatry." 

10. When addressed by your parents or superiors, give 
immediate attention. 

11. Be kind and gentle to your brothers and sisters, in- 
variably. 

12. When a favor is conferred, always express your grat- 
itude politely to the person who bestows it. 

13. Little folks, whenever you enter a room, always be 
careful to notice, respectfully, your superiors, or those older 
than yourself 

14. Never interrupt persons engaged in conversation, 
reading, or writing, but wait till a suitable opportunity is 
given you to speak. 

15. Never ask when you know. 

16. Never whisper in company, or make remarks on the 
dress of those about you, or about things that are in the 
room -where you are. 

17. Never flatly contradict any person, and especially 
your superiors. Rather say, " Are you not mistaken, sir ? 
I had supposed differently." Meekness and modesty are 
more precious than rubies. 

18. Be polite or courteous to everybody; true politeness 
is giving attention to little things, little acts of self-denial, 
kindness, and love, striving to make everybody happy. 
It is benevolence flowing from a noble, generous, pious 
heart. It is, in a word, doing to others as we would that 
others should do to us. 



260 
GOOD BEHAVIOR IN THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

A rEW HINTS TO BOYS AND GIRLS. 

Young friends, go in time ; be in your seats quietly ere 
a prayer is offered, a song of praise is sung, the word of 
God is read or expounded. 

One very important part of your religion should be not 
to disturb the religion of others. 

2. Never loiter by the way, mingle with evil companions, 
or indulge in worldly conversation. "Keep your hearts 
with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of life." 

3. When you arrive at the place of worship, enter imme- 
diately, and not remain outside a moment. 

4. As you enter, walk softly to your seat, and always be 
ready to give place to ladies and your superiors. 

5. Engage in silent aspirations ; lift your little hearts 
to God beseechingly for a special blessing to accompany 
the word of life to your own souls and to every one present. 

6. ISTever gaze about to gratify a vain curiosity. Keep 
your eye and heart fixed intently, prayerfully, on " things 
above." " Be more ready to hear, than to give the sacri- 
fice of fools." 

" Tahe heed how you hearP 

" Can ye not hear within that sound. 
Some strain of heavenly melody ? 
A note to bear thy mind away 
To regions of eternity ? 

" 'Tis holy time — a day of rest. 

Which God hath made and sanctified, 
And every worldly hope and wish. 

From all thy thoughts should be denied." 



GOOD BEHAVIOR IX THE HOUSE OF GOD. 261 

v. Never indulge in lolling, lounging, dozing, or sleeping 
a moment. The example is bad ; besides, it is manifestly 
disrespectful to God, to his ministers, his house, and to 
yourself. *' Awake, thou that sleepest." 

" These hours are passing fleet away. 

These golden days will soon be gone : 
And while ye list so carelessly. 

They're stealing from you, one by one. 

'' Then wake, oh, wake ! lest by and by 
Some deep regret shall give you pain, 
When you lament the sad mistake 
Of having heard the word in vain." 

8. Avoid- reading books or periodicals during the time 
of the religious exercises. 

9. When the text is referred to by the minister, turn to' 
it in your Bible and notice its purport. 

10. Never leave your seat or the house until the close 
of the meeting, unless absolutely necessary. 

11. Never leave the house hastily or abruptly; but when 
the exercises are closed walk softly and deliberately out. 

12. Retire immediately to your residence, avoiding all 
intercourse that will tend in the least to dissipate the mind 
or counteract the influence of the solemn truths you have 
heard. 

13. On entering your home, retire to your closet as soon 
as possible, and pray God to bless the exercises of his holy 
day to your souls and the souls of others, that it may be as 
seed sown in good ground, that will bring forth some 
thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. 

14. Give the outlines of the discourse, sermon, or other 



262 GOOD BEHAVIOR IN THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

instruction and exercises of the sanctuary to which you 
have attended, to your parents ; endeavoring to fix every 
admonition and word of instruction deeply and firmiy in 
your heart, searching the Bible to see whether these things 
are so, that fruit may abound unto eternal life. 

15. Practise what you hear. " Be ye doers of the word, 
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." 

" Can other themes your heart engage, 

■ And meaner things your thoughts employ ? 
"Why make the glittering things of earth 
Your greatest good, your chiefest joy? 

" Know, then, for every gracious word 
That falls upon your listless ear, 
A future day will sure reveal 

The guilt you seem not now to fear." 



MORAL TRAmiNG NEGLECTED IN CHRISTIAN 
FAMILIES. 

Many children have abundant religious instruction at 
home and in churches and Sabbath-schools, and yet are 
suffered to grow up with the idea that there is no harm in 
robbing birds' nests, or cruelizing bugs, snakes, toads, and 
the lower species of animal life. 

The exercise of this spirit is sure to engender a tyranni- 
cal love of power and dominion over everything, either 
brute or human, that is loeaher than themselves, and gen- 
erally leads to wickedness and cruelty. 



263 
THINGS NOT IN ORDER IN THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

1. To stand before the church-door before service. 

2. To engage in any kind of conversation, even religious, 
between the time of your going in and the commencement 
of worship. That interval should be spent in composing 
the thoughts for the solemnities of the approaching ser- 
vices. 

3. To salute persons coming in by bowing, smiling, &c. 

4. To look around to catch the eye of a friend, and smile 
at any remark from the pulpit. 

5. To allow children to be stuffing themselves during 
the services with apples, sweet-cakes, candy, or anything 
else. 

6. Sleeping in church is not in order. 

T. To be reaching for garments or adjusting the dress 
while the blessing is pronounced. 

8. To commence laughing, talking, and saluting one 
another, as soon as the people are dismissed. 

9. To stand in the door or aisle, and detain others from 
getting out, is not polite or in order. 

10. To stand around the .door, gazing at the ladies as 
they leave the church, to see who conducts them, and 
many other things, which as little concern others, is de- 
cidedly out of order. 



MISBEHAVIOR IN THE HOUSE OF WORSHIP 

Shows a want of common respect and decency ; hardens 
the heart, sears the conscience, meets the frowns of the 
Almighty. It is a disgrace to parents, and shows how 
greatly and wickedly they have neglected parental dis- 
cipline. 



264 




December has not left us yet, little readers. You see — 

Cold winter is here, and all nature looks drear, 

The streamlets in ice-fetters bound ; 
The leaves on the trees are all yellow and sere, 

And the snow-mantle covers the ground : 
The tempest now darkens the face of the skies. 

And the sharp, whistling storm-winds with terror arise. 

How cheerless and sad is the home of the poor, 
When the storm rages mournfully round ! 

When the northern wdnd blows, how hard to endure 
The privations which ever are found 

In the home of the needy, wdiere poverty dwells. 

And the breast fiU'd with anguish, painfully swells ! 



DECEMBER. 265 

Oh ! ye Avbo glide on with prosperity's tide, 

And numberless blessings possess, — 
Surrounded with comforts on every side, 

And hunger and want ne'er depress, — 
Pause and think of the poor, whose hopes have all fled, 
Their hearts chill'd and wither'd, and starving for bread. 

Go visit their homes ; go witness their grief, 

And listen to misery's plea ; — 
Beholding them desolate, offer relief 

Of the bounties which Heaven gives thee : 
Provide for their children, whose shivering forms 
Plainly tell how they suffer 'neath winter's bleak storms. 

Bestow then your sympathy, kindness, and prayers. 
On those whom misfortune has crossed ; — 

Oh ! ease their afflictions, and soothe their dark cares, 
Poor wanderers o'er life's billows toss'd ; 

And God will reward you with mercies most sure. 

For " blessed is he that remembereth the poor." 



THE FALLING SKOW. 



There's something so rude in the falling snow, 

As it drifts through the mountain air. 
And scatters its broad flakes to and fro. 

In the face of the old and fair ; 
And then, with a careless dance it flies 

O'er the graves of dear ones in the vale. 
And puts out the violets' tender eyes 

With its frigid tones and dismal wail : 
Oh ! lightly rest on the new-made sod. 
Where we gave our dear ones back to God. 
12 



266 



A WORD TO VISITORS MAKING FRIENDLY VISITS. 

Visit ? make friendly visitations ? As often as you 
please, little folks and great folks ; go here, go there ; run 
here, run there ; ily here, fly there ; scatter the good seed 
here, scatter the good seed there ; make haste ! 

Jesus visited, for what ? Paul visited from house to 
house, for what ? In visiting, go prepared with souls alive, 
on fire for God's glory. 

1. In visiting, give your friends as little trouble as 
possible. 

2. Aim to impart blessings as well as to receive them — 
to do good as well as to receive good. 

3. Some visitors give offence, cause trouble and vexa- 
tion ; exhibit a proud, selfish, ungrateful spirit ; leave a 
stench behind, instead of a sweet, heavenly perfume. 

Those who entertain such friends may be glad to see them 
come, but much gladder to see them depart. 

4. In visiting, never use tobacco in any form — smoke, 
chew, or snuff; it is impolite, and to many exceedingly 
offensive. 

5. Have you crying, unruly, or disobedient children, un- 
manageable at home ? never on any account take them 
abroad in your visitations. One sinner, though a very little 
one, destroyeth much good. Evil communications are sure 
to corrupt good manners. 

6. Never find fault with your food. This is impolite. 
Some visitors, with dainty palates or perverted tastes, are 
very troublesome. Eat what is set before you, asking no 
questions. 

7. Never indulge in bed till a late hour. Be up in time 
for family worship and early breakfast. Never keep the 



A WOKD TO VISITOKS MAKING FKIENDLY VISITS. 267 

family waiting a moment for prayers, breakfast, or any 
other duty. 

The famous philosopher, the great Peter of Russia, whose 
memory will ever be the admiration of Europe, always rose 
before day, and when he saw the morning break, would 
express his wonder that any man should be so stupid as 
not to rise every morning to behold one of the most glori- 
ous sights in the universe. 

8. Beware of intrusion, of trespassing on benevolence, 
kind hospitality. Let your visits be short, sweet, heavenly. 
" Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be 
weary of thee, and so hate thee." JProv. xxv. 17. 

9. Finally, in visiting friends, do them all the good you 
can, temporally and spiritually — ^body, soul, and mind ; im- 
part a holy influence. 

" Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father 
is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, 
and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James, i. 
2J7. Beloved reader, are your visitations of this character ? 
The Lord speed you ! 

" Arrest the present moment ; stay its flight, 
Imprint the marks of wisdom on its wings ; 
'Tis of more worth than kingdoms ; far more precious 
Than all the richest ^treasures of the earth ! 
Oh, let it not elude thy grasp ; but like 
The good old patriarch of God's holy word. 
Bold the fleet angel fest untU he bless thee !" 

Has any one a right to visit, except to do good and re- 
ceive good, to be a blessing to those he visits, temporally 
and spiritually? 



Forsake the foolish and live ; and go in the way of 
understand! n or. 




TAKE CAEE, DON'T FALL, LITTLE FOLKS AND GREAT 

FOLKS. 

" Let kirn that thitiketh he standeth^ take heed lest he fall.''\ 



Look up, friends, keep looking np ; " lift your eyes to 
the hills, whence cometh your help." 

But what are these busy folks doing — gathering grapes ? 
Very well, grapes are good, wholesome, delicious, nutri- 
tious. Think, young friends, how many precious things 



269 

God bestows continually, multitudinous, past numbering ; 
mercies high as heaven, broad as the ocean, overflowing : 
mercies past, mercies present. Begin to enumerate? 
Scarcely. Fill volumes ? Octavo on octavo, quarto on 
quarto. Indeed, the whole world would be insufficient to 
contain all the books recording God's superabounding 
goodness. 

Is it not evident, clear as the noonday sun, that God is 
very good ; that he is trying all the time, to the very ut- 
most, to lead sinners to repentance, and make everybody 
happy, little folks and big folks ? Nor is he unmindful of 
the lower order of beings, creatures animate and inanimate. 
Hark! 

" The eyes of all wait upon thee ; and thou givest them 
their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and 
satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is 
righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his. works. The 
Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him : to all that 
call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them 
that fear him : he also will hear their cry, and will save 
them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him : but 
all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth shall speak the 
praise of the Lord : and let all flesh bless his holy name for 
ever and ever." Psalm clxv. 15-21. 



" But I say unto you, that every idle word that men 
shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of 
judgment." Ilatt. xii. 6. 

"For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
Christ." 2 Cor. v. 10. 



270 



LITTLE FOLKS RECORDING MERCIES. 

Keep a journal or diary, little readers. Begin right away, 
put down daily some of the choicest, sweetest mercies be- 
stowed. The more frequently you do this — think over and 
over the little good things and the great good things, com- 
ing directly from the Father of lights — you have no idea 
how they loom up, magnify, spread abroad. You will be 
constrained to say with the Psalmist, " The earth is full of 
the goodness of the Lord." And your little hearts will 
burst out overflowingly with grateful praise, saying, " Bless 
the Lord, O my soul, and all that is in me bless his holy 
name, and forget not all his benefits." 

" Ten thousand thousand precious gifts 
My daily thanks employ ; 
Nor is the least a cheerful heart, 
That tastes those gifts with joy." 

Go right at it, little folks ; don't wait ; take your pens, 
sit down, consider how good and gracious God is ; reckon 
up in order his inexhaustible mercies — mercies on mercies 
— mercies past, mercies present. Especially recall God's 
goodness every night before retiring to rest ; cast your 
eye over the day past, bring to mind all the merciful dis- 
pensations, the blessings received from above, whence Com- 
eth every good and perfect gift, blessings temporal, bless- 
ings spiritual, the gift of life, health, food, raiment, friends. 
Has God kept you safely from all harm, from all danger ? 
Have you enjoyed social, friendly, and religious interviews 
around the fireside, the family altar, the table spread with 
choice bounties of Heaven ? Can you, dare you close your 
eyes in soft slumber ere you bow the knee in humble, de- 
vout thanksgiving — open your lips wide in heartfelt gratu- 
lations ? 



LITTLE FOLKS RECORDING MERCIES. 271 

Be sure, young friends, to acknowledge God's goodness ; 
bow the knee gratefully, ere reclining your head on the 
nightly pillow. God, though so great, so glorious, so infi- 
nitely above our comprehension, is well-pleased with our 
grateful remembrance of his favors. How frequently the 
Lord reproves his people for their forgetfulness of his 
mercies! "The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his 
master's crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth 
not consider." Isa. i. 3. 

Think again : keep on thinking, turning over and over 
these daily and hourly mercies. Have you eyes to see, 
ears to hear, a tongue to speak, hands to handle, feet to 
walk, reason, understanding, good judgment, is your con- 
science tender, enlightened by the Word and the Holy 
Spirit? What now? Any gratitude expressed, any soul 
alive to praise God ? Have you been redeemed by the 
blood of the Lamb? Are your sins pardoned, w^ashed 
away in the fountain open for sin and uncleanness ? Have 
you a lively hope of glory everlasting, founded on the rock 
Christ Jesus, a spirit of prayer, agonizing, prevailing ? 
Have you a peculiar delight in the holy Scriptures ? Is 
the blessed Bible your guide, your sun and shield, a lamp 
to your feet, a light to your path ? Is it food for your soul ? 
Do you meditate in it day and night ? Are all the Chris- 
tian graces in you aboundingly — love, joy, peace, long- 
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness ? What 
now ? Any expressions of humble adoration and praise ? 
Can you say, do you say — 



*' Through every period of my life, 
Thy goodness I'll pursue ; 
And after death, in distant worlds, 
The glorious theme renew ?" 



272 



LETTER-WRITING— WRITING LETTERS. 

Young readers, begin early to correspond with your 
friends at a distance. Communicate s^ood thino^s — heaven- 
ly. Begin just as soon as you can hold a pen. Write as 
you talk — jjlain, simple, intelligent gospel-language, God- 
fearingly. Tell your little friends and great friends abroad, 
far and near, about the blessed Jesus — how he died to save 
sinners, and how blessed it is to serve him with a perfect 
heart, to do good and communicate. Tell them the only 
sure way to he happy is to make happy — that it is " more 
blessed to give than to receive." 

In all your correspondings and communicatings, by pen 
and by word of mouth, be sure to keep wisdom which is 
from above vividly before you ; let no corrupt communica- 
tion proceed from your pen or out of your mouth, but that 
which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister 
grace to the hearers and the readers. "Let your speech 
be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know 
how to answer every man." Col. iv. 6. 

Write to your friends just as you would speak to them 
if present ; condense your thoughts ; compress your ideas ; 
say what you say in as few words as possible ; use correct 
language — pure, idiomatic ; mind your pauses — ^interroga- 
tion points. Aim at everything graceful, lovely, and of 
good report. 

Parents beloved, will you see to this ? Encourage your 
little sons and daughters in this excellent method of im- 
provement — a special means of grace. 

In this epistolary exercise the blessed truths of the Bible 
may be developed, early impressed, indelibly fixed — grace 
on grace — things heavenly and divine. 



273 




AXOTHER WINTER SCENE, AND THE LAST. 

By and by, little folks, it will be spring-time. Joyful, 
the merry songsters of the grove will resume their sweet 
melodies, tune their little harps afresh in praise. The beau- 
tiful flowers will show their smiling faces — all nature will 
put on her fairest, richest robes. 

" For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 
The flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of 
birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our 
land. The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the 
vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my 
love, my fair one, and come away." 

What now, little friends, praise the Lord ? Certainly, 
for " it is good to sing praises unto our God : it is pleasant, 
praise is comely." 

" From all that dwell below the skies 
Let the Creator's praise arise ; 
Let the Redeemer's name be sung 
Through every land, by every tongue." 



12* 



274 



GOD IS LOVE. 

This fact is everywhere evident in nature. The little 
streamlet winding over hill and through valley speaks to 
us in bubbling tones, " God is love." 

The lofty trees of the forest, swayed to and fro by the 
Lord of the winds, proclaim in piercing tones, " God 
is love." 

The bird soaring through the air and anon lighting on 
some tree-top, warbles forth in his sweetest notes, " God 
is love." 

The passing cloud, which for a moment obscures the sun, 
seemingly comes but to tell us, " God is love." 

Mighty ocean, with its foam-crested billow, exclaims in 
tones of thunder, " God is love." 

And every leaf and blade of grass joins with every other 
voice of nature in shouting, " God is love." And Echo 
answers, " God is love." 



FLOWERS. 



" Ye are the scriptures of the earth. 
Sweet flowers, fair and frail ; 
A sermon speaks in every bud 
That woos the summer o-ale. 



»' 



" Ye lift your heads at early morn. 
To greet the sunny ray ; 
And cast your fragrance forth to praise 
The Lord of night and day." 



The wise shall inherit glory : but shame shall be the 
promotion of fools. 



275 • 

LOST FOLKS— FOLKS THAT ARE JSTOT LOST. 

Are you lost, little friends ? Well, then, there is hope, 
glorious hope. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, both 
little and big. 

" How am I to be saved, mother ?" said little Herbert. 

" By taking God at his word, and believing what he has 
said concerning his Son." 

" But have I nothing to do ?" said the boy. " I thought 
I must do something ; for I was once told I must be good, 
or else God would have nothing to do with me." 

" My child, Jesus has done what was needed ; and you 
are saved by believing that all is done." 

*' But I am not good," said Herbert. " Will God have 
anything to do with me unless I am good ?" 

" My boy, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sin- 
ners. He receives the bad, not the good, else none would 
be saved. It is your badness, not your goodness, that you 
are to bring to him." 

" Well, that is good news," said the little fellow. 

" Just as I am, without one plea, 

But that thy blood was shed for me, 
. And that thou bidd'st me come to thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come, I come !" 



" For God so loved the world, that he gave his only- 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son 
into the world to condemn the world ; but that the world 
through him -might be saved. He that believeth on him is 
not condemned : but he that believeth not is condemned 
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the 
only-begotten Son of God." 



276 



GOD CALLING LITTLE FOLKS 
"they that seek me eaklt shall find me." 

Deae children, God is calling to you every day, through 
his word, through kind teachers and ministers of the gos- 
pel, to come to him. Every sin you commit takes you 
further and further from God and heaven ; and if you con- 
tinue on in your sins you will never reach that happy home 
which he has prepared for those that love him. When you 
hear the Saviour saying to you in the tenderest accents of 
his love, "Child, give me thy heart," will you not listen to 
his voice ? If you come to Jesus now, he will take you in 
his arms and bless you, and make you ha^ppy while you 
live, and when you die, will take you to dwell with him 
fox'ever. 



Little children, Jesus loves you : 
Once he left his home on high, 

Suffer'd on the cross to save you, 
Died that you -might never die. 

Little children, Jesus loves you ; 

From his arms no longer stay : 
He is waiting to receive you ; 

Children, come without delay. 



Little children, Jesus loves you. 
And when life with you is o'er, 

To his heavenly home he'll take you, 
There to dwell forevermore. 



211 



AID TOTTERING FEET? DO YOU, PARENT? 

" As freely M-e ourselves receive, 
So freely must we ever give," 

Do you ever send a little infant into the highway to 
walk by itself, unsupported, because it has limbs of its 
own ? Nay ; you aid those tottering little feet till they 
are strong enough to walk alone, and then let them go 
forth. Even so we are bound to sustain and guide the 
feet of prayer, till indeed the little ones pray^ not merely 
say their prayers. 

We are bound to take them to Christ now, till they meet 
him, and we are sure we have put their little hands in his. 
In other words, parents are under the most sacred obliga- 
tions to superintend the private devotions of their children 
till their little hearts catch from them the true flame of 
prayer, till they love prayer, delight in it, and will pray 
alone, in the spirit, in faith, in the name of Jesus, pre- 
vailingly. 

God said to his ancient people, " Thou shalt teach these 
words which I command thee diligently unto thy children 
. . . when thou liest down and when thou risest up." 
The quiet hour, when " he lieth down," when the day can 
all be calmly reviewed in the light of conscience, is the 
time when the door of the child's heart is most open, when 
evil can be best turned out of it and Christ be brought in. 

Lead the children directly to Jesus, rest not till you are 
sure they are in his arms. N"ever let go their hands till 
then. 



" A WISE son heareth his father's instruction : but a 
Bcorner heareth not rebuke." Prov. xiii. 1. 



278 . 
LITTLE CHILDREN LOVE JESUS? YES, THEY CAN. 

Every child knows what it is to love his mother, but can 
he tell you anything more about it than that he feels it ? 
Can any man say more ? 

Every child can take hold of his father's hand and go 
with him in tlie dark, and that is having faith in his father ; 
but he cannot tell what faith is. 

The child Samuel could say, " Speak, Lord, for thy ser- 
vant heareth," though he could not know the voice of the 
Lord from the voice of Eli. 

So the little child can believe in Christ, and love Christ, 
though he cannot know all the deep things in religion. 
He can live upon the sincere milk of the word, and grow 
thereby, and that is all that is necessary for his being gath- 
ered to Christ. 

So the little one does not know how he believes in Christ, 
and how he lives by faith, but he does. And the tall trees 
of the forest, and the giant oak on the hill, can no more 
tell how they are nourished by the rain and the sunshine, 
than the little violets that grow in the crack of a rock; 
and the lofty tree in the garden and the frail lily are alike 
fed, they know not how. When the child has said that he 
feels love to Christ in his heart, could a Xewton, with all 
his great mind, say more ? 

Hasten, O Lord ! that happy time, 
That dear, expected, blessed day, 

When men of every race and clime 
The Saviour's precepts shall obey. 

In one sweet symphony of praise. 
Gentile and Jew shall then unite, 

And all the wrongs that man has wrought, 
Sink in the abyss of endless night. 



279 




MARY'S PET LAMB. 

Christ is the Lamb of God, as the accepted sacrifice for 
our sins, and for his innocent, meek, mild, and gentle char- 
acter, and for his spotless holiness. Please, little folks, 
turn to John, i. 29 ; also to Isaiah, liii. 4-9. Little Chris- 
tians, washed clean in Jesus' blood, are called lambs 

"■ Hagt thou a lamb in all thy flock, 
I would disdain to feed ? 
Hast thou a foe before whose face 
rd fear thy cause to plead ?" 

Are there those that believe that the Good Shepherd has 
not many lambs to feed ? Certain it is that they are often 
overlooked by all but him, and that he is often carrying 
them unheeded through our midst. 



" The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the 
price of the field." Prov. xxvii. 26; 



280 



THE LITTLE LAMBS. 

" He shall gather the lambs in his arms, and carry tlrnn in his bosom."" Isa. Ix. 11. 

Jesus always had children among his auditory. They 
are often mentioned. In the enumeration of those whom 
he miraculously fed we read, " JBesides women and chil- 
dreny His triumphant entry into Jerusalem gathered 
among the most conspicuous of the jubilant throng those 
children who were heard crying " Hosannah " in the tem- 
ple. When Jesus " took a little child and set hini in the 
midst," he had not to go far for the living illustration, for 
the little children were always near the " holy child Jesus." 

Our Lord Jesus was so guileless, so gentle, the child-like 
nature was so eminently conspicuous, that he attracted the 
little ones to himself. We shall never forget the voice of 
the Saviour, the Lord of angels, as he cries, " Suifer the 
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for 
of such is the kingdom of heaven." " Take heed that ye 
despise not one of these little ones." 

First of all, gather the lambs for Christ. " Take this 
child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." 

" Shepherd of the chosen number, 

They are safe whom thou dost keep ; 
Other shepherds faint and slumber, 
And forget to watch the sheep ; 
Watchful Shepherd ! 
Thou dost wake while others sleep." 



" Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her 
voice ? Unto ygu, O men, I call ; and my voice is to the 



sons of man." Prov. viii. 1, 4. 



281 



CHILDREN'S MISSIONS. 

" Childee]^^ by our Lord were honor'd, 
When on this poor earth he stay'd ; 
Fondly he embraced and bless'd them, 
Though a frowning throng forbade. 

" To his side a child he summon'd, 
Placed him in the midst, and told 
Those that simple guide to follow, 
Who God's kingdom would behold. 

" Still his gospel honors children, 

Bids them to Christ's service move, 
And their little rills of beauty 
Swell the ocean of his love ; 

" Bids them strive with zealous pity 
For the. desolate and sad. 
Till the dark and desert places 
Are for them exceeding glad. 

" Children, to our dear Redeemer 
Yield the grateful homage due. 
And by love to every creature 
Pay the love he bears for you." 



Paeexts, in training your little ones, take the Bible, be- 
gin with the Bible, keep on with the Bible, end with the 
Bible. 



282 



LITTLE FOLKS KEEP ON DOING GOOD? YES, 
THEY DO— 

MissiONATE here, missionate there, sow the good seed 
here, sow the good seed there. " In the morning sow thy 
seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand." 

" Thou know'st not which may thrive, 
The late or early sown." 

There is hanging on the wall of a shepherd's cottage, 
amid the ruins of an old castle in North Wales, a card, on 
which is printed, in large letters, these lines : 

"For Jesus Christ's sake, 
Do all the good you can, 
To all the people you can, 
In all the places you can, 
At all the times you can, 
And as long as you can." 

Very simple words, but they lay out work for a Chris- 
tian's lifetime. 

Dear children, will you commit these lines to memory, 
and not only be able to repeat them, but to put them in prac- 
tice by doing deeds of kindness and speaking words of love 
to all around you, remember the poor, the sick, the afflicted, 
" and him that hath no helper," for Jesus Christ's sake 
•evermore ? If you wish to be happy, he good and do good, 
and true happiness will be yours now and forever. 



" Oh, happy they who in their youth 
Are brought to know and love the truth ; 
For none but those whom truth makes free 
Can e'er enjoy true liberty." 



283 



LITTLE FOLKS PREACH? YES, THEY CAN; THEY DO, 

When their little hearts are in tune, full of faith and love. 
Hear what an infidel's child said to her father. " Father, 
why don't you talk to me about God and Jesus, as mother 
does ?" said a sweet childish voice of four years. The 
father was dumb, and left the room quickly. A day or 
two before his father left to join his regiment, Harry 
plucked from the garden a beautiful flower, and holding it 
to his father, asked, " Pa, who made this pretty flower ?" 
No answer was given ; but deep thoughts were stirred in 
this infidel's heart. 

Nearly three thousand years ago, the Psalmist wrote, 
" Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou or- 
dained strength." 

A dear young girl, whose heart Jesus had touched, was 
burdened with sorrow and anxiety for her worldly, impen- 
itent father. She prayed for him in agony ; and how dare 
she approach one so deeply loved and reverenced, upon 
this subject so near her heart ! 

But at length summoning all her courage, she resolved 
to speak with him on the all-important matter. 

" Father, I wish to speak to you," she said, with a beat- 
ing heart and faltering lips. 

" Well, daughter, what is it ?" he asked pleasantly. 

The burdened heart could contain itself no longer. 
Bursting into an agony of tears, she said only, 

" Y'our soul, father, your soul !" 

That man of the world felt his heart pierced as with one 
of God's own arrows. He could only answer with a chok- 
ing voice, 

*' Daughter, I will." 

Ain't this preaching, eflectual, soul-saving ? 



284 




A LITTLE GIRL FEEDING THE BIRDS. 

Pretty, ain't it, little readers ? The birds must be fed, 
the chickens must be fed, and who can attend to this busi- 
ness any better than a sprightly little girl, always on the 
jump to make everybody happy, even the beautiful, inno- 
cent birds that sing so sweetly. Hurt them, destroy their 
nests or their young ones ? Not for the world ! She loves, 
as every little boy and girl should, the song-birds dearly, 

That flit o'er hill and plain. 
That leave when chilling winter comes, 

But soon return again ; 
That warble out their hymns of praise 

With many a gleeful voice. 
Which calms the daily cares of life, 

And bids the heart rejoice. 



285 



THE LITTLE BLACK-EYED BOY AND THE PRETTY 
BIRDS. 

A LITTLE black-eyed boy of five 

Thus spake to his mamma : 
" Do look at all the pretty birds ; 

How beautiful they are ! 
How smooth and glossy are their wings — 

How beautiful their hue ! 
Besides, mamma, I really think 

That they are pious, too ! " 

" Why so, my dear ?" the mother said, 

And scarce suppress'd a smile — 
The answer show'd a thoughtful head, 

A heart quite free from guile ; 
" Because, when each one bows his head 

His tiny bill to wet, 
To lift a thankful glance above 

Jle never does forget ; 
A.nd so, mamma, it seems to me, 

That very pious they must be." 

" Dear child, I would a lesson learn 
From this sweet thought of thine, 

And heavenward with a glad heart turn 
These earth-bound eyes of mine ; 

Perfected praise, indeed, is given 
By babes below to God in heaven." 



" O GIVE thanks unto the Lord, for his mercy enduretli 
forever." Fsalm cxxxvi. 1. 



286 



HOAV TO BE HAPPY. 



Young readers, do you wish to know this secret of se- 
crets ? A beautiful little girl, trained in newness of life, 
full of faith and love, SAveet as a lamb, innocent as a dove, 
always on the wing, was asked why she was so joyous, 
cheerful, and happy. The reply was, "I love to make 
others happy." 

Here was the secret of her happiness. This little girl 
had been early instructed to deny herself, exercise benev- 
olence, to imitate Jesus in going about doing good. 

Children, will you promise to do something every day to 
make others happy, to lighten somebody's toil, cheer some 
sorrowful one, cause a cheerful smile upon some disconso- 
late face, cause some widow's heart to sing for joy ? Do 
thus in the name of the Lord, and for his glory, and you 
are sure to be happy. Your light shall rise as the dawning 
sun. 

No wonder some little folks and great folks are unhappy in 
the world. There always is clashing when the machinery is 
out of gear. There is always trouble when the wheels are 
off the track. Man seeks to live for himself. God made 
him to live for others. How swells that mother's heart with 
joy, when she can make her children happy ! What a 
thrill of delight comes with that look of gratitude, that tear 
of joy, and that one of love, which are all that the widow 
and the orphan can render to their benefactor ! The cup of 
happiness is an overflowing cup. It is like a bubbling 
fountain, ever pouring forth its blessings to refresh the 
weary and fainting, and made pure only by its own over- 
flow. It is like the quiet meadow-rill, fringed all along 
with flowers, yet concealed by the veiy exuberance of 
beauty and verdure itself doth nourish. 



287 




THE SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK. 

How many sheep are straying, 

Lost from tbe Saviour's fold ! 
Upon the lonely mountains 

They shiver with the cold ; 
Within the tangled thickets, 

Where poison vines do creep. 
And over rocky ledges, 

Wander the poor lost sheep. 



Oh I who will go to find them? 

Who, for the Saviour's sake. 
Will search with tireless patience 

Through brier and through brake? 



288 THE SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK. 

Unheeding thirst or hunger, 
Who still, from day to day, 

Will seek, as for a treasure. 
The sheep that go astray ? 

" Say, will you seek to find them? 

From pleasant bowers of ease. 
Will you go forth determined 

To find the * least of these.?' 
For still the Saviour calls them, 

And looks across the world. 
And still he holds wide open 

The door into his fold. 

" How ^eet 'twould be at evening. 

If you and I could say, 
Good Shepherd, we've been seeking 

The sheep that went astray ! 
Heart-sore and faint with hunger. 

We heard therji making moan. 
And lo ! we come at nightfall 

Bearing them safely home." 



" I THINK when I read that sweet story of old, 

When Jesus was here among men. 
How he call'd little children as lambs to his fold — 

I should like to have been with him then. 
I wish that his hand had been placed on my head. 

That his arms had been thrown around me, 
And that I might have seen his kind look when he said, 

'Let the little ones come unto me.'" 



289 



CAKRYING AWAY THE LAMBS. 

When the shepherds of large flocks of sheep cannot suc- 
ceed in separating the dams from the rest, because their 
young ones are among them, they will carry away their 
lambs in their arms to a better pasture, and then the dams 
willingly follow. Ah ! " the Good Shepherd" has often to 
adopt the same method ! To separate his chosen ones from 
the rest of the world, he is compelled to carry away the 
lambs of the human flock in his warm bosom to heaven, 
and then bereaved parents gladly follow. The poet has 
drawn a beautiful and touching simile from this well- 
known practice of pastoral life. 

" A shepherd long had sought in vain 
To call a wandering sheep ; 
He strove to make its pathway plain, 
Through dangers thick and deep. 

" But yet the wanderer stood aloof, 
And still refused to come — 
Nor would she ever hear reproof, 
Or turn to seek her home. 

" At last the gentle shepherd took 
Her little lamb from view ! 
Her mother gazed with anguish'd look— 
She turn'd— and follow'd too !" . 

The late Dr. Payson, when engaged in paying pastoral 
Visits to his spiritual flock, happened one day to enter 
" the house of mourning," and there he found a disconso- 
late mother, whose darling child had just been " taken 
from the evil to come," whom he thus addressed : " Sup- 

13 



290 CARRYING AWAY THE LAMBS. 

pose, now, some one was making a beautiful crown for yon 
to wear, and you knew it was for you ; and that you was 
to receive and wear it as soon as it should be done. Now, 
if the maker of it were to come, and, in order to make the 
crown more beautiful and splendid, were to take some of 
your jewels to put into it, should you be sorrowful and 
unhappy because they were taken away for a little while, 
when you knew they were gone to make up your crown ?" 
It is by the dark seasons of the night which is far spent 
that we are prepared for the dazzling effulgence of the 
eternal day. 



GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER. 

" Give, in the days of childhood, 

"When the heart is pure and light ; 
Give, when thy manhood cometh ; 
Give, in life's deep twilight. 

" Give of thy worldly treasures. 

What thy God hath lent to thee ; 
Bless with thy heart's pure feeling 
The homes of misery. 

" Give words that are kindly spoken, 
Make fertile the roughest sod ; 
But above all earthly giving. 
Give life, in its morn, to God." 



" He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool : but whoso 
walketh wisely, he shall be delivered." Frov. xxviii. 26. 



291 

ROOM FOR THE LAMBS? PLENTY! 

Let little folks come in ? Certainly ! The lambs of the 
flock, whose hearts are touched by grace divine, the finger 
of the Lord. The privileges and ordinances of God's house 
are theirs, the communion of saints. When we can discern 
in them a knowledge of their lost state without Christ, and 
that they have submitted themselves, and rest upon Christ 
as their Saviour, who may bar them from the sanctuary ? 
They have a right there, and it is the duty of God's people 
to bring them in, and nurture them up in the Lord. 

Childhood is, indeed, the spring-time of the year, the 
time for the singing of birds, the lambs to skip, the mount- 
ains and the hills to break forth in joyful praise, and the 
trees of the forest to clap their hands. " Out of the mouths 
of babes and sucklings thou hast ordained strength." 
When we find the seeds of heavenly grace springing up in 
the hearts of little children, as there always should be, we 
may trust that Spirit's power. Such members prove in af- 
ter years the strong pillars of the Church. One trouble 
with those Christians brought in at mature life is, that they 
are often uneducated for the work before them, and life it- 
self may be gone before they comprehend it. 



De. Adam Clark, in his last days, wrote : " The prayers 
of my childhood are yet precious to me ; and the simple 
hymns I sang when a child, I still remember with delight." 



" Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and at- 
tend to know understanding." Prov. iv. 1. 



292 

GOOD THINGS FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 

'■'■ Bemewher now thy Creator in, the days of thy youth.'''' Eccl. xii. 1. 

"Live, while you live, the epicure would say, 
And seize the pleasures of the present day ; 
Live, while you live, the sacred preacher cries, 
And give to God each moment as it flies. 
Lord, in my view, let both united be, 
I live in pleasure when I live to thee." 

How lovingly the dear Saviour — the Lamb of God — wel- 
comes little children to his happy fold ! He numbers the 
lambs among his flock. " Suffer little children to come un- 
to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
God." LuJce, xviii. 16. 

Dear children, now in the spring-time of your lives, be 
sure to plant choice seeds, which may burst forth in beauty, 
bloom, and bear "the peaceable fruits of righteousness." 
Jesus was as young as any of you, who *' never did sin, 
neither was guile found in his mouth." Lie is the perfect 
example for all. Do you not wish, children, like Jesus, to 
go about doing good ? He loves little children, and will 
never refuse to hear their cries. 

" Then lift your little hands in prayer ; 

The Saviour bids you come ; 
Safe in his bosom he will bear 

The lambs to his bright home. 
Then lay your little hand in his : 

He'll lead you gently on. 
Through trials of a world like this, 

To scenes of bliss beyond." 



293 




THE GARDENERS RESTING IN THE SHADE. 



' Out-door employment gives pleasure and gain, 

And makes us our troubles forget ; 
For those who work hard have no time to complain, 
And it's better to labor than fret."' 



294 THE GAUDE^EKS RESTING IN THE SHADE. 

This garden-service was one of Eve's chief delights 
while in Paradise, and when compelled to leave, after hef 
fall, how grievous ! 

" O unexpected stroke, worse than of death ! 
Must' I leave thee. Paradise ? Thus leave 
Thee, native soil ; these happy walks and shades, 
Fit haunt of gods ; Avhere I had hoped to spend 
Quiet, though sad, the respite of that day 
Which must be mortal to us both. O flowers 
That never will in other climate grow, 
My early visitation, and my last. 
At even, which I bred up with tender hand 
From your first opening buds, and gave you names, 
Who now shall rear you to the sun, or rank 
Your tribes, and water from the ambrosial fount ?" 



A child, trained from infancy in the fear and love of 
God, is ready to " serve the Lord Jesus Christ with all hu- 
mility of mind," in any work to which he is called, saying, 
" Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God," in a meek, heav- 
enly spirit — "the meekness and gentleness of Christ;" 
and as he goes forward from duty to duty, will be able to 
say with David, " My soul is as a weaned child :" " I de- 
light to do thy will, O my God !" 



" Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy do- 
minion endureth throughout all generations." 



295 



A WORD TO LITTLE FOLKS AND GREAT FOLKS 
ABOUT TALKING. 

Nothing to say ? Well, then, say nothing — ^hold your 
peace. 

Never talk merely for the sake of talking. Hush ! Lift 
up your heart silently, in prayerful ejaculations, for wisdom, 
pure, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good 
fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy ; that the 
words of your mouth and the meditations of your hearts 
may be acceptable to God, edifying, administering grace to 
the hearers. 

Again; never open your lijDS when unduly excited or 
ruffled. Keep still ! look up. The art of silence is a great 
art, both with the old and the young. 

Keep your mouth as with a bridle. Learn to be silent 
under oppositions, provocations, rebukes, injuries, or perse- 
cutions. How did Jesus do ? Look and see. It is better 
to say nothing, than to say anything in an angry or ex- 
cited manner, even if the occasion should seem to justify a 
degree of anger. By remaining silent, the mind is enabled 
to collect itself, and calls upon God in secret aspirations of 
prayer. And thus you will speak to the honor of your 
holy profession, as well as to the good of those who have 
injured you, when you speak from God. 

" Whene'er the angry passions rise. 

And tempt our thoughts and tongues to strife, 
To Jesus let us lift our eyes. 

Bright pattern of the Christian life. 

" His fair example let us trace. 

To teach us what we ought to be : 
Make us, by thy transforming grace. 
Dear Saviour, daily more like thee." 



296 



BOAKDING-HOUSE KEEPERS STANDING THE FIRE. 

Stand salvation's fire, do you ? What now ? Lose 
friends dear as life — husband, wife, father, mother, brothers, 
sisters, sons, daughters, houses and lands, all temporal 
good — life itself? Better a thousand times than displease 
your God, the Son of the Blessed, by shrinking from duty, 
withholding light, salvation, grace. "He that loveth fa- 
ther or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he 
that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy 
of me." "He that findeth his life sliall lose it, and he that 
loseth his life for my sake shall find it." 3fatt. x. 37-39. 

" Think not that I am come to send peace on earth ; 
I came not to send peace, but a sword." 

Lose your boarders by standing for the truth as it is in 
Jesus, by holding forth gospel purity, love, joy unspeaka- 
ble ? Well, suppose you do, one by one till every room in 
your house is vacated ? What now ? Starve ? Who says 
so ? "I have been young and now am old, yet have I not 
seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread." 
Psalm xxxvii. 25. What ! neglect family duty — reading 
God's word, prayer and praise— night and morning, for 
fear of losing your ungodly boarders, or cold, formal, back- 
slidden professors ? Where your consistency, your faith, 
your discipleship ? • Can you, dare you shrink from family 
duty, lower the standard, gospelly, for fear of losing a 
single member of your household, or all the members of it, 
and the gains thereof ? At your peril you do it. Better 
beg from door to door, live on a dry crust, breathe out 
your life in the poorhouse. 



297 




^oeiHaLvc. 



AN ARABIAN HORSEMAN. 



See him, little friend ? What do you know of Arabia ? 
Are you familiar with geography ? Look on your map of 
Asia. Arabia is a vast country, extending one thousand 
five hundred miles from north to south, and nearly the 
same from east to west. The northern part of this im- 
mense territory, bounded by Palestine and the Dead Sea, is 
the place to which Moses fled from cruel Pharaoh, king of 
Egypt, to save his life. (See Ex. 2d and 3d.) Here in the 
land of Midian he kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law 
forty years. God appeared to him in a flaming bush of 
fire, and told him what to do. Was he obedient ? Turn 
to Hebrews 3d, and you will see how faithful Moses was in 
everything God told him to do. He was a great and good 
man, a prophet and legislator. He led God's chosen peo- 
ple from Egypt to the promised land, and though he was 
learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, jQt he was very hum- 
ble : in Numbers xii. 3, he is termed " the meekest of men." 

13* 



298 

BOARDERS IN THE FAMILY— WHO ARE THEY, WHERE 
ARE THEY? 

" Don't know," say you, Christian friend ? Is it possi- 
ble — can it be ? What kind of a Christian are you ? " If 
the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that dark- 
ness !" What ! a boarder, a member in your family, sit at 
your table morning, noon, and night, for weeks and months, 
and you, forsooth, calling yourself a Christian, know not 
whether he is on the side of the Lord or that of the devil ; 
on the way to heaven or on the way to hell ! Moreover, 
you have friends, relatives, and may-be some of your own 
children, lying down, rising up, going out and coming in 
before your eyes, for days, weeks, and months, and what 
do you know of their spiritual standing, the welfare of their 
souls, their hope of heaven, glory eternal ? Do you know 
whether they are for life or for death — for salvation or 
damnation ? Again ; here is your servant-girl, waiting at 
your table, serving you in the nursery, in the parlor, how 
long ? four weeks, three months, six, a year ? What has 
she heard from your lips about Jesus, his love, mercy, his 
willingness to save to the uttermost the very chiefest of sin- 
ners ? Have you said anything definitely, pointedly, to 
this maid-servant of yoUrs, on her soul's eternal welfare, 
pointed her to the " Lamb slain ?" Have you exhorted her 
affectionately, entreatingly to repent of her sins, and do 
works meet for repentance, flee the wrath to come ? Have 
you ascertained for a certainty, whether her course is up- 
ward or downward, onward and upward, to glory eternal ; 
or downward, to dwell with devils and spirits damned for- 
ever and /bre^;e?'.^ " Nay," say you, "nay?" Then what 
kind of a Christian are you ; a dead one or a live one ; a 
wide awake one, or one sleeping ; a wretched formalist, or 
miserable backslider ? 



BOAKDERS IN THE FAMILY. 299 

You talk about religion ! Oh yes, you talk about it— 
round about it, over it, and under it ; and what sinner 
don't ? what painted hypocrite don't ? what " dumb dog" 
don't ? But where the " home-thrusts," " the sword that 
cuts, the fire that burns ?" Where the life, the power, 
things practical, experimental, soul-kindling, soul-saving ? 
If your own soul was alive, on fire for God, truth, and love, 
if you had any just and proper view of God's justice, mercy, 
truth, and love, of the worth of the soul, the glories of 
heaven, the torments of hell, of your own duty and respon- 
sibility as a servant of the Lord Jesus, would you, could 
you hold your peace, sleep and dream, dream and sleep, 
talk and eat, eat and talk, laugh and talk, talk and laugh, 
and not speak a word about Jesus ? Wh«t kind of a Chris- 
tian are you ? You talk and laugh about everything that 
the world talks and laughs about, but what do you say 
for Jesus ? What do you do for Jesus ? 

Where and when have .you taken one in your family, lit- 
tle or big, young or old, aside with glowing heart, flowing 
tears, weepingly, for earnest prayer, faithful beseeching, 
exhortation, and every look, moving muscle, meanwhile, 
indicating deep concern for the soul's salvation ? 

" Ah ! 'tis a high and holy work 
To reap this harvest rare ; 
Oh, hast thou thrust thy sickle in, 
With Immble, fervent prayer ? 

" Or hast thou loiter' d all the day, 
' Nor bound a single sheaf ? 
If thou hast wasted thus its hours, 
There's cause for bitter grief !" 



300 



A WICKED WOMAN IN THE FAMILY, ONE OF THE 
WICKEDEST, PROFESSING DISCIPLESHIP. 

" Sinner ! oh ! lift thy thoughts above, 
And hear the Lord of life unfold 
The glories of his dying love- 
Forever telling, yet untold !" 

Wicked ? No telling ho^Y wicked she is ! Pen cannot 
describe it — words utter it. The very hairs of our head 
rise up when we think of it ! What ! profess to be a dis- 
ciple of the Lord Jesus, a follower of the Lamb, and see 
sinners go down to hell before your eyes, under your own 
roof, and not a thought, a single breath of salvation or re- 
deeming, sanctifying grace in you or about you on their 
behalf — not a ripple, the least sign of uplifted, spontane- 
ous exhortation to flee the wrath to come ? Awful ! 
shocking inconsistency ! Blood-guilty ? Angels stand 



Again, you let that servant dwell in your house, day in, 
day out ; week in, week out ; go up stairs and down stairs, 
do this and that, sit around your table, lie down and rise 
up before your eyes, and not a word about the welfare of 
her immortal soul ! You know not whether she is bound 
for heaven, glory on glory, or in the broad and frequented 
road to the pit of woe everlasting, where devils dwell and 
spirits are damned ! Is not this indifference of yours cruel 
as the grave, reckless, outrageously — this stupidity unpar- 
donable, infernal ? 

You talk about kitchen duties, parlor duties, this thing 
and that thing touching the world, things that perish with 
the using, fluently ; and not a word about the soul's salva- 
tion, life eternal, joys unspeakable! You talk and laugh, 
laugh and talk, have a gleeful time; but nothing about 
Jesus, the Lamb that was slain ! 



301 



DUTIES FOR ALL, GREAT AND SMALI^OUT-DOORS 
AND IN-DOORS. 

Duty is the thing — everything — at home and abroad, in 
the house and out of it, in the parlor, in the kitchen, in the 
field, in the workshop, in prosperity, in adversity, in sick- 
ness, in health, in the sanctuary, in the Bible-class, in the 
Sabbath-school, in the social circle for prayer and praise, 
in all places, under all circumstances; husbands and wives, 
parents and children, brothers and sisters, ministers and 
people, male and female, little folks and great folks, men- 
servants and maid- servants, in every station and occupa- 
tion, be sure and do your duty. The path of duty is the 
path of safety. Go forward 'mid opposition, persecution, 
fire and water ; shrink not, stem the flood, be firm, resolute, 
determined, unflinching, let nothing prevent from duty — 
not all the hosts of darkness, wicked men and devils, Satan 
and all his legions. Push forward in duty, never fail, come 
life or death. Duty, in the strength of God, is our life, our 
prosperity, our happiness — happiness here, happiness for- 
ever ! Our hope for life eternal depends on duty. The 
moment we omit any known duty, great or small, in public 
or private, to God or man, that moment we lose ground. 
Let the Christian neglect his closet, his family duties, holy 
discipline, prayer and praise — what now ? Any hope, com- 
fort, consolation ? Friends, go forward in duty, in God's 
strength, wisdom, grace. Go forward everywhere — go for- 
ward. God w^ill bless, fill you with love — bless you here, 
bless you forever. Go forward ! 



" The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them : 
but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness," 
Prov. xi. G. 



302 




SWIFT AS A DEER. 

Are you, little readers, on the leap for things beautiful, 
sublime, heavenly, enduring forever ? What animal swifter 
on foot ? David and Habakkuk both allude to the charac- 
ter of the hind or deer. " The Lord maketh my feet like 
hind's feet, and causeth me to stand on the high places." 
Psalm xviii. 33. Hob. iii. 19. 

Again he says : " As the hart panteth after the water- 
brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul 
thirsteth for God, for the living God : when shall I come 
and appear before God ?" 

Little friends, are your souls on fire^thus for God and his 
glory ? Is it not your privilege, your duty ? 

" Wherefore do^ye spend money for that which satisfieth 
not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is 
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." Isa. Iv. 2. 



303 



QUICK AND WELL. 

That's it, little folks, do things quick, do things well. 
" Hurry up !" 

When you do this or do that, be sure to put on the steam. 

•Whatever father or mother says "do," haste to do it, 
quick as possible, cheerfully, up stairs or down stairs, in- 
doors or out, in the kitchen or in the parlor, in the gar- 
den, the field, or the workshop — off, off ! in a twinhling — 
quick as 2i flash. 

Run, hop, skip, fly ! in the way of obedience. Haste to 
do every good thing your little hands find to do, with your 
might ; he sure^ also, to do everything in the best possible 
manner. 

" Work well done is twice done." IsTever mix up things ; 
do one thing at a time ; begin one thing and finish one 
thing — make clean work as you go. Have order, system, 
regularity ; a place for everything, and everything in its 
place. Whatever you do, do it well. A job slighted, be- 
cause it is apparently unimportant, leads to habitual neg- 
lect, so that men degenerate, insensibly, into bad work- 
men. 

Training the hands and the eyes to do work well, leads 
individuals to form correct habits in other respects, and 
a good workman is, in most cases, a good citizen. No one 
need hope to rise above his present situation who sufiers 
small things to pass by unimproved, or who neglects, meta- 
phorically speaking, to pick up a cent because it is not a 
dollar. 

A rival of a certain great lawyer sought to humiliate him 
publicly by saying, " You blacked my father's boots, once." 

" Yes," replied the lawyer, unabashed ; " and I did it 
welV 



304 



CLOCK-WORK IN THE FAMILY, NEATNESS AND ORDER 

" The gentle child that tries to please, 
That hates to quarrel, fret, and tease, 
And would not say one angry word — 
That child is pleasing to the Lord." 

Everything in this clock-work family is neat, clean, 
sweet, and tidy — the floors, the carpets, the kitchen, the 
parlor, the centre-table, bookcase, the chambers, bedroom, 
and bedding, the wardrobes, the furniture of every kind, 
the table spread with heaven's bounty. Everything in the 
house and around the house bears evident marks of order, 
system, regularity, and good taste. 

The children are neat as a pink, quiet and harmless as 
doves, brisk as larks, clad neatly, modestly, simply, gos- 
pelly; their heads are combed, their hands and faces 
washed. 

At family worship all is clock-work ; every one is present 
at the instant, hush as heaven, calm, sedate, solemn, peace- 
ful, orderly. Oh, what a blessed, happy, peaceful, joyful 
family — a little heaven on earth ! 

Little friends, is not this beautiful ? How is it with 
you ? Order, system, life — a time for everything, a place 
for everything ? A time to sleep, a time to rise, a time to 
work, a time to praise and pray ? Is every day, every 
hour, every moment duly arranged, systematically, beauti- 
fully ? Order is heaven's first law. 

Yiew the heavenly orbits, the sun, moon, and stars, the 
varied seasons, nature in all her movements. The heavens 
declare God's wisdom and glory, system and order. How 
in business matters ? Are you active, studiously, persever- 
ingly, unceasingly ? Do you move on with light, life, 
vigor, strength of purpose, vivacity, stretching every nerve^ 
doing what your hands find to do with your might '^ 



305 



PUNCTUALITY THE LIFE, THE SOUL OF BUSINESS. 

"Method is the very hinge of business, and there can be 
no method without punctuality." 

These precepts cannot be taught too early in life, or im- 
pressed too strongly. Punctuality in the slightest matter, 
in every engagement to others, in every promise to a child, 
should be strictly regarded. " Every child should be 
taught to pay all his debts, fulfil all his contracts exactly 
in the manner, completely in the value, punctually at the 
time. Everything borrowed he should be obliged to re- 
turn uninjured, at the time specified ; and everything lost 
belonging to others, he should be required to replace." 
Were these rules strictly enforced in education, there would 
be less sufltering in society from disregard of obligations. 

Want of punctuality is injustice. We have no right to 
intrench upon the time of others by our negligence. It is 
like taking their purse because your own is empty. " Time 
is money." 

JBe at the Time, the very time, the moment, the instant j 
fail not, stay not, linger not, hinder not. Moments are 
moments more precious than gold. Time lost is lost for- 
ever ! Have a time, a regular time, a specified time for 
duties public and private, for lying down, rising up, going 
out, coming in, for prayer and praise, for secret prayer, so- 
cial prayer, family prayer. When the moment arrives for 
these sacred duties, be on the spot instantly. Have a spe- 
cific time ; adhere to it consistently, perseveringly. By 
being in time, you save time. Golden moments are lost by 
lingering, for want of punctuality. One lingers, another 
lingers ; one is behind the time, another and another. 
Thus, often, a Avhole family, a whole audience is delayed 
by the delay of one negligent, slack, sleepy, tardy soul. 



306 




THE FARM-HOUSE A'ND GOD'S HOUSE. 

See them contiguous, in sight of each other. This is as 
it should be ; religion first, salvation first, fi^r the little 
folks and the great folks. Then all things move on smil- 
ingly, joyfully, prosperously. Never begin at the wrong 
end. " Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 
ness," and every good and necessary thing is sure to fol- 
low. David said : " For I had gone with the multitude, I 
went with them to the house of God : with the voice of 
joy and praise, with the multitude that kept holy-day." 

Farmers beloved, one Avord if you please.* Be sure and 



* These suggestions are applicable not only to farmers, but to every one. 



THE FARM-HOUSE AXD GOD's HOUSE. 307 

make it a rule to read a little every day, even if it be but 
a single sentence. A short paragraph will often afford you 
a profitable source of reflection for a whole day. Keep the 
Bible, or a good book, or a good paper always within your 
reach, so that you may lay your hand on it at any moment 
when you are about the house. 

We know a large family intimately acquainted with his- 
tory, probably more than any one other family in the 
United States, by the practice of having one of the chil- 
dren, taking turns week by week, read every morning or 
at noon, while the rest were at breakfast or dinner.* 

" Give me the farmer's peaceful home, 
Beneath the maple high, 
Where nature's warblers wake the song. 
The waters prattling nigh." 



COUNTRY FOLKS BEWARE, YOUNG AND OLD. 

How perilous the case of the young who flock to our 
large cities, and are frequently for weeks and months with- 
out employment ! They would work, but no one will hire 
them. Soon they are assailed by feelings of loneliness 
and discouragement, lose self-respect, esteem their good 
character and name of less and less value, since the world 
has no care for them, pays them no honors, affords them no 
sympathy. Here Satan is sure to find them, pretend great 
friendship, deep interest in their weal ; sin offers employ- 
ment or indulgence at least, and soon they are on the swift 
"race to ruin. Thousands of dependent females have suf- 
fered the loss of virtue and peace under this pressure. 

* The long winter evenings «hould be employed in the eame exercise. 



308 



FORGETFULNESS IN LITTLE FOLKS AND GREAT 
FOLKS. 

" Olivee, did you carry that basket to the store ?" " Oh, 
I forgot." 

" Why did you not come directly home from school, Oli- 
ver, as I requested you ?" " Oh, I forgot all about it." 

"Why did you not study your sabbath-school lesson, 
Oliver ?" " Oh, I forgot it entirely. Indeed, I forgot to 
bring my book home." 

Thus on every occasion of neglect and unfaithfulness, 
the excuse was, " I forgot." Did God forget ? N'o ! This 
forgetfulness shoAved his wicked heart — his disobedience. 
" Be ye doers of the word," says the apostle James, " and 
not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." 

As it is with little folks, so it is with great folks. " Oh, 
I forgot it." Forgot it, indeed ; and why did you forget 
it ? Why vow and pay not ? Why make an engagement 
and fulfil it not ? You forgot to comply with your prom- 
ise ! How is this ? Do you forget your breakfast, your din- 
ner, your supper ? Do you forget to provide your bodily 
comforts or necessities ? And yet you forget to do a thing 
that might have saved a soul from death eternal. Wicked 
man, wicked woman ! Is this you — brother, sister, forget- 
ting to do good, and that good you promised \>q> do? This 
indicates obtuseness of conscience, a lack of God's fear, love, 
and mercy. Besides grieving the Holy Spirit by this omis- 
sion, you forfeit your reputation for strict honesty, curtail 
your usefulness greatly. We beseech you, consider engage- 
ments binding to the very letter, for conscience' sake. Do 
you promise to visit the sick, the jDOor, the oppressed, to 
attend to such a meeting, to deliver such a message, such a 
book, such a tract, for the soul's salvation ? and then will 
you say, when questioned, " I forgot it ?" 



309 



BEAUTIFUL SPEECHES FOR LITTLE FOLKS? 

Heaps on heaps, in prose and in poetry, on every page 
nearly, pure as gold, choice as silver. Parents, in selecting 
for your children articles for school or for home recitations, 
be sure to select those, and only those, that tend to virtu- 
ous purity, salvation ; that breathe love, Bible-reform. 

Ne-ver allow your sons or your daughters to commit 
pieces in prose or poetry, insipid, foolish, trifling, nonsensi- 
cal, to excite the fool's laughter. They leave a sta,in and a 
sting behind. What children store in their minds may be 
for time, for eternity, for good or for evil, for salvation or 
damnation ! How infinitely momentous, then, to sow good 
seed, " for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 
reap." 

" Sow in the morn thy seed. 
At eve hold not thy hand ; 
To doubt and fear give thou no heed ; 
Broadcast it o'er the land ! 

" Then duly shall appear. 

In verdure, beauty, strength. 
The tender blade, the stalk, the ear, 
And the full corn at length. 

" Thou canst not toil in vain ; 

Cold, heat, and moist, and dry, 
Shall foster and mature the grain 
For garners in the sky. 

" Then, when the glorious end, 
The day of God, shall come, 
The angel-reapers shall descend. 
And heaven sing * Harvest-home !' " 



310 



A WORD ABOUT SWEARING. 

SwEAE, little folks ? Oh, oh ! how dare you ! Wicked ? 
heaven-daring ! 

" It chills my 1310001 to hear the blest Supreme 
Rudely appealed to on each trifling theme ; 
Maintain your rank, vulgarity despise, 
To swear is neither brave, polite, nor wise." 

There are little oaths and great oaths, little swearers 
and big swearers. The boy that makes use of little oaths, 
is almost sure, by and by, to swear big oaths, and to keep 
on swearing. 

Some who would not swear by the name of God, think 
nothing of swearing " by George," or, " by jingo," or by 
something else. Others often cry out "good gracious," 
" my conscience," or " mercy on me," and the like. 

These are the heginnings of swearing ; they are to pro- 
fane swearing what acorns are to the oak. 

Our Saviour, when on earth, said : " Let your yea be 
yea, and your nay be nay, for whatsoever is more than 
these Cometh of evil. This means we should use plain, 
simple language. 

David had a short prayer to this point ; " Set a watch, 
O Lord, before my mouth ; keep the door of my lips." 

Children, make this your constant prayer, and repeat, 
day by day, the third commandment : 

" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in 
vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh 
his name in vain." 



" Keep my commandments and live ; and my law as the 
apple of thine eye." Prov. vii. 2. 



311 



PLANT TREES. 

Pla:nt teees ? Certainly, Delay not ; begin early to 
beautify your premises. A house with shade and fruit 
trees set around it, a neat fence or hedge in front, a row of 
box or pansies growing by the walk, and a climbing rose 
by the door, will sell for more than if there were none of 
these to any intelligent purchaser, so that aside from the 
pleasure one takes in enjoying a pleasant and attractive 
home, it pays in a pecuniary sense to beautify the premises. 
Fathers, husbands, make home beautiful. Children, follow 
suit. 

It is the duty of every one to adorn and beautify his 
home, for every man will be what his most cherished 
thoughts and feelings are, and those thoughts and feelings 
will receive impress and color from the character of his 
habitual surroundings. Let home be in his eye the love- 
liest spot on earth, and his aspirations will be elevated, his 
enjoyments refined and virtuous, his impulses pure and up- 
lifted above the humiliations and jdegradations of the outer 
world. 

Every family that owns a lot of ground, or has one 



312 PLANT TREES. 

leased or rented, should set apart at least a small plot for 
trees and flowers. If they have not the ground, any fam- 
ily, however humble their circumstances, can adorn and 
beautify their cottage with a few flowers in pots or boxes. 

If we would take more pains to plant trees and shrubbery 
around our dwellings, our children would be more attached 
to the old homestead, and we would hear less of the young 
people wandering away from home in quest of pleasure. 
We can usually judge of the refinement within by the sur- 
roundings of a dwelling, and among these the flower-garden 
is a prominent indicator. 

The cultivation of flowers, besides being a healthful ex- 
ercise for young ladies, softens the disposition and refines 
the taste. You will almost invariably find that the woman 
who likes to cultivate these beauties of nature is a kind and 
afiectionate companion, and keeps a well-ordered household. 
It also gives them a taste for the beautiful, and the mind 
will naturally pass to a love of all that is grand and sub- 
lime in nature. Even the Saviour drew some of his most 
excellent illustrations from the " lilies of the field." 

What is better calculated to ennoble and elevate the 
human mind than studying the works of the Great Archi- 
tect of the universe ? 



" Behold the boundless store 

Of charms which nature to her votary yields, 
The warbling woodland, the resounding shore. 

The pomp of groves, the garniture of fields. 

All the genial ray of morning yields. 
All that echoes to the song of even, 

All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, 
And all the dread magnificence of heaven." 



313 



THE LOVELY DAUGHTER 



Lovely ? Sweet as heaven ! More precious than gold. 
i3eautifiil as beautiful can be — angelically ! The very- 
quintessence of all that is true,, pure, virtuous, heavenly. 
Every look, thought, word, deed, moving muscle, indi- 
cates a soul alive in God, on fire for goodness, justice, 
mercy, and truth. Her whole exterior and demeanor, 
her wardrobe, costume, etiquette, familiar conversations, at 
home and abroad, exhibit gracefulness, gospel purity and 
simplicity; Wherever she moves, in whatever society, she^ 
diffuses goodness around her like the essence of sweet 
flowers. Her adorning, what is it — gay, worldly, fashiona- 
ble, the wearing of gold, pearls, plaiting" the hair, the put- 
ting on costly apparel ? Nay, but " the hidden man of 
the heart, in that which is not corruptible. Even the orna- 
ment of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of 
God of great price." 

The modesty of this beautiful daughter is unaffected and 
results from purity of mind and heart, godly fear. Mod- 
esty in this sense is the loveliest, sweetest charm of female 
excellence, the top-stone of the graces superlative, the richr 
est diadem in the crown of honor. 

Mother, is this daughter yours ? Happy mother ! bless- 
ed mother ! " Many daughters have done virtuously, but 
thou excellest them all." 



" Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain : but a woman 
that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." Prov. xxxi. 
29, 30. 

14 



314 




THE PALACE OF ALLABAHAD * 

A SPECIMEJT OF AKCHITECTURAL BEAUTY. 

We see from this engraving and from numerous histor- 
ical facts, that the arts and sciences flourish where the 
gospel of Jesus never shines. The most valuable and 
wonderful discoveries have been by men destitute of heav- 
enly light or saving faith. The mechanical arts were in 
great perfection before the Flood. Zilla, One of the wives 
of Lamech, bare Tubal Cain, an instructor of every artificer 
in brass and iron. This same Tubal Cain was the great 



* We introduce these engravings as tcxte to preach short trcrmous to great folks 
and little folks, to saints and sinners. 



PALACE OF ALLABAHAD. 315 

mecliauic of the day, as wicked as he was. What could we 
accomplish in these days, if there were not numerous arti- 
ficers in brass and iron ? The railroads, the steam-engines, 
the iron-clad vessels, etc., are the results of diligent working 
in brass and iron. The spirit of this early inventor is still 
at work, and has been largely developed in these days. 

Hence we see clearly that the intellect of man is not to- 
tally depraved by the fall. The natural faculties or powers 
of the mind may be exercised independently of the heart 
or will; although through the influences of the depraved 
heart, they are often devoted to wicked purposes. The heart 
is the seat or fountain of all evil. All its affections, designs, 
desires, volitions, and passions are selfish, sensual, and at 
enmity with the character, laws, and government of God. 

" As it is written. There is none righteous, no, not one : 
there is none that understandeth, there is none that seek- 
eth after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are 
together become unprofitable ; there is none that doeth 
good, no, not one." Rom. ii. 10-12. 

The Bible gives light and life, is a lamp to our feet, a 
light to our path. It instructs us in the nature, relations, 
duties, rights, and prospects of man. Wherever the Bible 
is not read, the people are in blindness. The Holy ScrijD- 
tures teach us that our first duty is to God, and that virtue 
and sin will reap eternal rewards. This exalts man, makes 
his life sublime, solemn, of immense value and consequence 
to him, and inspires him with the purpose to live well, 
worthily, obedient to God, in the practice of all virtue, 
which alone leads to honor and peace. 

Let us thank God for the Bible and keep it ; and not 
only keep it, but study it, and fill our minds and the 
minds of our children with its purifying and ennobling 
truths. 



316 



RELIGION BEAUTIFUL IN LITTLE FOLKS AND GREAT 
FOLKS. 

Ix the child, the maiden, the wife, the mother, religion 
shines with a holy, benignant beauty of its own, which 
nothing of earth can mar. Xever yet was the female char- 
acter perfect without the steady faith of piety. Beauty, 
intellect, and wealth are like pitfalls in the brightest day, 
unless the divine light, unless religion throws her soft 
beams around them, to purify and exalt, making twice 
glorious that which seemed all loveliness before. 

Religion is beautiful in health, in sickness, in wealth, in 
poverty. We never enter the sick-chamber of the good, 
but soft music seems to float on the air, and the burden of 
their song is, " Lo ! peace is here." Could Ave look into 
thousands of families to-day, where discontent sits fighting 
sullenly wdth life, we should find the chief cause of unhappi- 
ness, loant of religion in iconian. And in felons' cells, in 
places of crime, misery, destitution, ignorance, we should 
behold in all its most horrible deformity, the fruit of irre- 
ligion in Avoman. 

Oh, religion ! benignant majesty, high on thy throne 
thou sittest, glorious and exalted. jS"ot aboA'e the clouds, 
for earth-clouds come never between thee and a truly pious 
soul ; not beneath the clouds, for above thee is heaven, 
opening through a broad vista of exceeding beauty. 

Its gates shine in the splendor of jasper and precious 
stones, with the dewy light that neither flashes nor blazes, 
but steadily proceedeth from the throne of God. Its towers 
bathe in refulgent glory ten times the brightness of ten 
thousand suns, yet soft, undazzling to the eye. 

And there religion points. Art thou Aveary ? it Avhispers 
rest, up there, forever. Art thou sorroAving ? eternal joy. 



PREACHING SINNERS TO HEAVEN IN THEIR SINS. 317 

Art thou weighed down with unremitted ignominy ? kings 
and priests in that holy home. Art thou poor ? the very 
street before thy mansion shall be gold. Art thou friend- 
less ? the angels shall be thy companions, and God thy 
Friend and Father, 

Is religion beautiful ? We answer, all is desolation 
where religion is not. 



PREACHING SINNERS TO HEAVEN IN THEIR SINS. 

Ministers of Jesus, how can you do it, how dare you, 
with the volume of inspiration before you ? What au- 
thority have you from God, his holy word, for the slightest 
intimation that sinners, who remain sinners, continue to sin 
(little sinners or great sinners, young or old), will see or en- 
joy the realms of light and glory ? 

" Except a man be born again he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." Heaven to the unregenerate would be hell. 

Some teachers in Israel, we regret to say, presumptuously 
assert that soldiers in the army, on the battle-field, up to 
the very moment of being slain, are sinners, enemies of God, 
destitute of saving grace, impenitent, Heaven-daringly, 
and yet because loyal, friends to the Union, are saved eter- 
nally. Are such teachers gospel-teachers ? What doctrine 
more pernicious, better calculated to lower the Bible stan- 
dard, give licence to sin and sinners, encourage the sensu- 
alist, the Sabbath-breaker, the bold blasphemer to trample 
.on justice, mercy, and truth, deny the Lord that bought 
him, and still hope for heaven, glory eternal ! 

One of the most unhappy influences flowing from the 
present state of our country is the feeling that every man 
who sacrifices his life for the Union, dies a martyr, and 



318 PREACHING SINNERS TO HEAVEN IN THEIR SINS. 

goes to heaven as a matter of course. Patriotism is not 
piety. Man may love his country, but have no love for 
God. It is as true of the soldier as of men in the other 
pursuits of life ; " He that believeth on the Son of God hath 
everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall 
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." 

" Ye shall not surely die," said the old serpent, the devil, 
to Eve, while gazing on the forbidden fruit. But what 
saith the Lord ? " The soul that sinneth it shall die." 
" Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." " With- 
out holiness no man shall see the Lord." " Be not deceived, 
God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth that 
shall he also reap." " Every tree that bringeth not forth 
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." "The 
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that 
forget God." " Let God be true, but every man a liar." 
Horn. iii. 4. 

Again ; others preach children and youth to heaven, who 
are known to be impenitent, hardened in sin, conscience- 
seared, full of pride, disobedient, and self-willed ; children 
that have lived in open rebellion against God, six, eight, 
ten years, in the mid-day sunbeams of gospel light, up to 
the very moment of their exit. Is not this awful, shocking- 
ly perversive of the truth of God, and the first principles of 
salvation ? Woe to the foolish prophets. " Because, even 
because they have seduced my people, saying Peace, peace, 
and there was no peace ; and one built up a wall, and lo, 
others daubed with unterapered mortar." "They have 
healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly." 
Jer. vi. 1. 



" Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved : but he that 
is perverse in his ways shall fall at once." Prov. xxviii. 18. 



319 




LITTLE FOLKS, SEE THIS WOMAN ON HER KNEES 
BEFORE JESUS, 

In the attitude of prayer, fervent supplication. Do you 
know her name or who she is ? Turn, if you please, to 
Matthew, xv., and read eight verses, beginning at the 
twenty-first. Here you see everything described minutely 
and beautifully. 

A Gentile ? Yes ; but she had heard of Jesus, what 
great and blessed things he had done — healed the sick, 
raised the dead, cast out devils ; also, how he loved little 
children, took them in his arms and blessed them. There- 
fore, this poor Gentile woman felt quite sure he would have 
mercy on her afflicted daughter, possessed with a devil. 
And Jesus did ; but oh ! what a trial she passed through 
.before Jesus granted her petition ! She met with discour- 
agements on every side, before and behind. Even the 
Lord himself seemed to throw a damper over her prospects 
for a little while. Her way was hedged and hedged, and 
yet she resolved and re-resolved not to take " No" for an 
answer. She pressed her suit, persevered like Jacob, who 



320 THE WOMAN ON HER KNEES BEFORE JESUS. 

said to the angel, " I will not let thee go till thou bless 
me." Gen. xxxii. 26. 

Help she wanted, help she must have ; and she knew 
none could help her but Jesus. She felt her need and her 
unworthiness deeply, and declared she would be satisfied 
with the crumbs that fell from the Master's table. 

See, little readers and great readers, what she gained by- 
faith and perseverance. By and by Jesus " answered and. 
said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith : be it unto thee 
even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole 
from that very hour." Matt. xv. 28. 

See, also, w^hat we may gain by following on to know 
the Lord, whose ear is open to the first and softest lispings 
of little folks and great folks for special mercies. " A 
bruised reed shall he not break,. and smoking flax shall he 
not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. 
And in his name shall the Gentiles trust." 



SAYING PRAYERS. 

" To say my prayers is not to pray, 
Unless I mean the things I say. 
Unless I think to whom I speak, 
And with my heart his favor seek. 

" In prayer we speak to God above ; 
"We seek the blessed Saviour's love ; 
We ask for pardon for our sin, 
And grace to make us pure within. 

" My infant lips were early taught 
To say, ' Our Father,' as I ought ; 
And every morn and every night. 
To use my daily prayer is right." 



321 
PEACE-MAKING, PEACE-KEEPING. 

PEACE AT HOME, PEACE ABROAD. 

" Blessed are thepea^-makers.'''' 

Keep the peace? By all means. Study to keep it, 
labor to keep it, pray to keep it. Prayer is the secret of 
secrets for making peace, and keeping peace when it is 
made. Have you enemies, indoors or out, at home or 
abroad ? Give yourself to prayer, pray earnestly that you 
may obtain favor in the sight of all men, good grace, a 
patient hearing ; for wisdom, that you may so order your 
conversation that your families, friends, and neighbors 
shall be constrained to acknowledge your uprightness, 
justice, mercy, and truth. Nothing is so well calculated 
to confirm and perpetuate harmony and good-feeling, 
strengthen friendship and love, as prayer. Why do fam- 
ilies, friends, neighbors, and church-members so frequently 
fall out by the way, say hard things and do hard things, 
cause jarring discords, overturnings, heart-burnings, and 
upheavings ? Is not restraining prayer one special cause 
of bitter envyings and strife, confusion, and every evil 
work ? 

Beloved reader, do you wish to keep the peace, perpet- 
uate pure and lasting friendship, hush discords and heart- 
burnings, at home and abroad, up-stairs and down-stairs, 
live peaceably with all men ? give yourself to prayer, re- 
member your friends and enemies in the closet, around the 
family altar, pour out your soul for their temporal and 
spiritual welfare, specify them minutely. God has all 
hearts, and can turn them as the rivers of ^ater, make even 
our enemies to be at peace with us. 

" Blessed are the peace-makers." " Who is a wise man, 
endued with knowledge among you ? Let him show by 

14* 



322 PEACE-MAKING, PEACE-KEEPING. 

prayer and good deportment, his works with meekness of 
wisdom." "And the fruit of righteousness is sown in 
peace by them that make peace." "Prayer makes the 
darkened clouds withdraw." Prayer is omnipotent ; it 
moves the universe, subdues kingdoms, turns stony hearts 
into hearts of flesh, enemies into friends. 

" We tell you this, for we have tried it, too, 
And know the thing which we affirm is true. 
To-day a year of trial ends ; we meet 
To hear you witness, that true prayer is sweet ; 
We tell you that it bids dark doubt depart. 
And brings true joy to every sincere heart : 
It lightens care, and bids our sorrows cease. 
And to the troubled soul it whispers. Peace ; 
It ever fills the heart, and ever can, 
With love to God and charity to man." 



PRAY ON, LITTLE FOLKS, KEEP PRAYING. 

Peayer should be the watcliword, the first thing, the 
last thing ; always — rising up, lying down, going out, com- 
ing in, " lifting up holy hands everywhere." 

" Let your first thoughts by morning light 
Ascend to God on high ; 
And in the evening raise your thoughts 
Above the starry sky. 

" He loves to hear your infant prayers ; 
He bids you seek his face : 
Go, like the children of his love, 
And ask his promised grace." 



323 




GATHERING NUTS. 

See that little girl holding her hat for the nuts as her 
brother gathers them ? Is she not beautiful ? Does not 
her whole countenance indicate modesty and purity — a 



324 GATHERING NUTS. 

mild, heavenly sweetness, lovely ? Exquisitely ! Mild, do- 
cile, heavenly as a lamb, cheerful as a lark, sprightly as a 
bluebird or a little wren ; always on the alert, to please, to 
do good ! 

There is nothing half so sweet in life, half so beautiful, as a 
little girl diffusing light and life, like the essence of sweet 
flowers. 

Not a w^rinkle of impatience or discontent is manifested, 
not a look or moving muscle of the morose or dumpish. 

Whenever this little bluebird or robbin redbreast of a 
thing is bid to do this or that, to attend to this duty or 
that, she is off in a twinkling, smilingly, joyfully, like a 
skipping lamb, or a deer in th-e forest. She literally j^ies 
on the wings of joyful, heartfelt obedience. 

" On that cheek and o'er that brow, 

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, 
The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 

But tell of days in goodness spent ; 
A mind at peace with all below, 

A heart whose love is innocent." 



" One of the greatest signs of modesty is good sense. In 
a woman, modesty is one of the great charms of her sex ; 
it is that which renders her so refined, so gentle, and so 
lovable ; it hides a multitude of faults, and adds new lus- 
ter to any virtue she may possess : the very fact of half 
concealing them doubles their lustre ; for virtues are like 
flowers, more beautiful in the bud than when full-blown 
and blazoned out to all the world. A young woman, mod- 
est in conversation, modest in demeanor, and modest in her 
actions, inspires every sensible person with respect and con- 
fidence. 



325 



POST UP THE SISTERS— KEEP THEM POSTED. 

Females should be posted on things heavenly, divine, 
lovely, and of good report, pertaining to salvation, life 
eternal. 

It is a great mistake in female education to keep a young 
lady's time and attention devoted to the fashionable litera- 
ture of the day. If you would qualify her for conversation, 
for usefulness, you must give her something to talk about 
that ministers grace to the hearers, elevating, pure, gentle, 
sweet as the morning rose, blooming as May flowers. 

Every fleeting moment should be grasped, for intellectual, 
moral, and religious cultivation, "that they may be as 
corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace." 

How noble is the sphere in which woman is called to act ! 
To her it is given to smooth the couch of the dying one, 
to comfort the mourner, to instruct and form the young 
mind, and to make home what it should be. 

" This, oh this is woman's lot — 

To be a friend when others fail ; 
To look on death and ffiar it not ; 

To smile when other cheeks grow pale. 
To trust 'mid danger and 'mid care. 

To love when love seems almost dead ; 
To hope when other hearts despair. 

And pray when love and hope are fled. 



" Every word of God is pure : he is a shield unto them 
that put their trust in him." Prov. xxx. 5. 



326 



GIRLS SHOULD LEAEN TO KEEP HOUSE. 

Ko young lady can be too well instructed in anything 
which will aiFect the comfort of a family. Whatever posi- 
tion in society she occupies, she needs a practical knowl- 
edge of the duties of a housekeeper. She may be placed 
in such circumstances that it will not be necessary for her 
to perform much domestic labor ; but on this account she 
needs no less knowledge than if she was obliged to preside 
personally over the cooking-stove and pantry. 

Children should be early taught to make themselves 
useful, to assist their parents in every way in their power, 
and to consider it a privilege to do so. Young people 
cannot realize the importance of a thorough knowledge of 
housewifery ; but those who have suffered the inconveni- 
ences and mortifications of ignorance can well appreciate 
it. Little folks should be early indulged in their disposi- 
tion to bake and experiment in cooking in various ways. 
It is often but a " troublesome help" which they afford, 
still it is a great advantage to them. 

Daughters should thoroughly acquaint themselves with 
the business and cares of a family. These are among the 
first objects of a woman's creation ; they ought to be 
among the first branches of her education. Everything 
domestic or social depends on female character. As daugh- 
ters and sisters, they decide the character of the family. 
As wives, they emphatically decide the character of their 
husbands, and their condition also. As mothers, they de- 
cide the character of their children. Nature has con- 
structed them the early guardians and instructors of their 
children, and clothed them with sympa'thies suited to this 
end. 



321 



MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 

The mother who indulges her daughter in recreation or 
idleness, while she performs the service which the daughter 
should have done, is doing a most serious injury to the 
child she loves. Many mothers, from a mistaken kindness, 
perhaps, are committing this error. In many families, even 
in very humble circumstances, where daughters will, sooner 
or later, be compelled to rely upon their own efforts for 
support, or else live in the greatest necessity, they are al- 
lowed to grow up without any fixed habits of industry, 
and with very little knowledge of those duties which they 
may be required to discharge in life. 

The mother rises early in the morning, prepares break- 
fast for her household, while her grown-up daughter sleeps ' 
away the fresh hours, and only performs her toilet in time 
to take her seat late at the table which her mother has 
spread, with a pale cheek, languid air, and, perhaps, no ap- 
petite for the food which her mother has prepared. Both 
are committing a mistake which both will have occasion to 
regret in later years. The mother performs her daily rou- 
tine of domestic duties, does her washing, ironing, cooking, 
house-cleaning, while the daughter, after some light and 
unimportant service, dresses herself to entertain company, 
make calls, take walks, or still worse, waste her hours in 
reading novels, and poring over light and trashy literature. 
A grave and lasting wrong is done to the child, a wrong 
which may entail sorrow for a lifetime. It is no wonder 
mothers sometimes say, "girls are not worth as much as 
they used to be when we were young." How can they be, 
when mothers do not train them to those stern, but needful 
social virtues, those habits o£ domestic industry, and that 
knowledge of home-duties, without which no daughter can 



328 MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS. 

make a home happy, and fill with honor the station of a 
wife and a mother ? 

Mrs. Ellis, alluding to working mothers and idle daugh- 
ters, says : " It is a most painful spectacle in families where 
the mother is the drudge, to see the daughters elegantly 
dressed, reclining at their ease, with their drawing, their 
music, their fancy-work, and their reading ; beguiling them- 
selves of the lapse of hours^ <iays, and weeks, and never 
dreaming of their responsibilities ; but as a necessary con- 
sequence of the neglect of duty, growing weary of their 
useless lives, laying hold of every newly invented stimu- 
lant to rouse their drooping energies, and blaming their 
God for having placed them where they are. 

" These individuals will often tell you, with an air of af- 
fected compassion — for who can believe it is real? — that 
*poor, dear mamma is working herself to death.' Yet, 
no sooner do you propose that they should assist her, than 
they declare she is quite in her element — in short, that she 
would never be happy if she had only half as much to do." 

Therefore, idleness is the hotbed of temptation, the cra- 
dle of disease, the master of time, the canker-worm of felici- 
ty. To him that has no employment, life, in a little while, 
will have no novelty ; and when novelty is laid in the grave, 
the funeral of comfort will soon follow. 



" Doth not wisdom cry ? and understanding put forth 
her voice ? She standeth in the top of high places, by the 
way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at 
the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. Unto 
you, O men, I call ; and my voice is unto the sons of man." 
Prov. viii. 1-4. 



329 




THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT 

Mark the progress of the ages and the advance of the 
world's civilization. They are as destitute of beauty as 
their builders were of taste. One hundred thousand men 
were employed ten years in building the causeway for 
transporting the stone from the river to Cheops, and then 
three hundred and sixty thousand men were engaged 
twenty years in building that one artificial mountain, cov- 
ering more than twelve acres of land. And there are 
more than twenty of these monstrous tombs. They were 
old when Christ was born, and carry one back nearly four 
thousand years. They show the efiect of combined, perse- 
verinsj effort. 



330 

PRAYING MOTHERS— WHAT A BLESSING! 

You:ffG readers, have you a praying mother ? Yoa are 
highly favored, and are under very special obligations to 
bow the knee to omnipotent, saving grace forthwith. 

We sometimes see children that have been brought up 
by irreligious parents converted, and become exemplary 
Christians. They are as brands plucked out of the burn- 
ing. But will it not be sad if children nurtured in the lap 
of piety, accustomed from infancy to the voice of prayer 
and praise, should continue in sin and lose their souls ? If 
they perish, theirs will iiot be the doom of common sin- 
ners. It is dreadful to perish under any circumstances ; 
but to be lost in spite of a mother's faithful instructions, 
tender entreaties, lovely example, importunate prayers, and 
burning tears will fill the cup of woe to the brim. Oh ! 
oh ! what a hell ! 

How enduring is the influence of a pious mother ! Long 
years have passed away since that praying mother offered 
her last prayer and closed her earthly toils ; but her influ- 
ence still lives. That daughter, whose first pious breath 
was spent in thanking God for a praying mother, is now 
the parent of a numerous family, and is sending down 
through another generation the gracious influence which 
she derived from her mother. May we not hope that the 
stream of heavenly influence descending from the praying 
mother will continue to widen and deepen, and flow on to 
unborn generations ; and that in the day of judgment 
a numerous progeny, redeemed, ennobled, and glorified 
through her influence, will rise up to call her blessed ? 

What an inestimable blessing is a pious and faithful 
mother to any one. However unseen may be the results 
of her labors, those labors never are without blessed results 
in the case of every one of her children. 



331 



HOW TO SPEAK— WHEN TO SPEAK. 

Young friends, be courteous. Speak when you ought to 
speak. Never engross the conversation in the social circle 
or at table, when older and wiser persons are present. 
Never interrupt others while they are reading or convers- 
ing. 

Every child should be taught when to speak and how to 
speak. " A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but he that 
openeth wide his lips shall have destruction." "In the 
multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that re- 
fraineth his lips is wise." 

How distressing it is to visit a family where the young 
members are allowed to go on unchecked like " wild asses' 
colts," with their laugh, and their play, as if no one were 
present but their own dear selves. How little profit* or en- 
joyment in the midst of rude hilarity ! 

There is a time to speak, and a time to be silent ; and 
well-instructed, modest young ladies and gentlemen under- 
stand this. Where the fountain is pure the streams are 
pure. " Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet 
water and bitter?" "Out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh." " Keej) thy heart with all diligence, 
for out of it are the issues of life." " The tongue is an un- 
ruly member." Solomon says, " Thy tongue deviseth mis- 
chief, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully." " A fool's 
voice is known by a multitude of words." And "the 
mouth of fools poureth out foolishness." " If any man of- 
fend not in word, the same is a perfect man, able also to 
bridle the whole body." "Who is a wise man, endued 
with knowledge among you ? let him show out of a good 
conversation his works with meekness of wisdom." 



332 



BABY-TALK— AWAY WITH IT. 

What is termed baby-talk, when addressed to children 
old enough to understand and imitate it, is detestable. 
The parents must remember that when the child can com- 
prehend one word its education is begun. The mother, 
especially, is called to officiate as professor of languages in 
the domestic university. But who, in teaching a foreigner 
the English language, would say to him that until he be- 
came further advanced he must call a horse a " horsey," 
and a dog a " bow-wow," and that for the present he will 
address his maternal parent as his " mudder ?" This seems 
sufficiently ridiculous ; but this is not all — it would be un- 
just to the learner ; it would teach him pronunciations 
which he must unlearn as laboriously as he learned them. 
You would thus, in fact, double his task. The folly and 
the injustice are the same, when you teach a little child to 
speak a distorted, mangled, burlesque language, of which 
it becomes ashamed when older, and tries to unlearn it. 

Little folks should be taught correct language as early 
as possible ; not a slip of the tongue should pass without 
correction. 

We advise all young j^eople to acquire in early life the 
habit of using good language, both in speaking and in 
writing, and to abandon forever the use of slang words and 
phrases, else the unfortunate victim of neglected education 
is very probably doomed to talk slang for life. 

The first infantile lisjDing should be marked with critical 
precision. Everything vile, vulgar, clownish, uncouth, im- 
polite, ungrammatical, immoral, all slang phrases, should 
be sedulously avoided, and all things true, honest, just, 
pure, lovely, inculcated. 

Habits once formed, are formed forever/ 



333 




CHARLEY RIDING OUT. 

What a noble animal the horse ! Treat him kindly and 
gently, and he will treat you kindly and gently. See the 
sister of Charley placing her hand on this beautiful pony. 



334 CHARLEY RIDING OUT. 

How exceedingly wicked it is to abuse any creature God 
has made for our use, and especially the horse ! 

" Who gave thee speech and reason, form'd him mute. 
He can't complain ; but God's all-seeing eye 
Beholds thy cruelty — he hears his cry. 
He was design'd thy servant, not thy drudge : 
And know — that his Creator is thy Judge." 

Children trained by kind, loving parents " in the way 
they should go," will never abuse or be unkind to any of 
the creatures God has made. 

" The Lord who gives us daily bread 

Supplies their wants and hears their cry, 
And every wrong which they endure 
Is mark'd by his paternal eye. 

" And should we cruelly betray 

Our trust o'er those who can't complain ; 
Beware ! the measure that we mete 
May be return'd to us again." 

" Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." 
And the " merciful man is merciful to his beast." 



" The righteous man regardeth the life of his beast : 
but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Prov. 
xii. 10. 



" The merciful man doeth good to his own soul : but he 
that is cruel troubleth his own flesh." Prov. xi. 17. 



335 

LITTLE FOLKS HAPPY? HOW OTHERWISE! 

If God's little servants, obedient in all things, early in- 
doctrinated in full salvation, faith that works by love and 
purifies the heart, led on and on in ways of righteousness 
and true holiness, as they should be, how is it possible for 
them not to be happy as happy can be ? Ask any little 
boy or girl born of the Holy Spirit, on the wing of burning, 
joyful hope, in the midst of turmoil and divers tribulations, 
" Are you happy ?" What the quick, unequivocal response ? 
" Yes, yes ! joy, joy ! glory, glory !" How can it be. other- 
wise, so long as they do everything to please the Lord ? 
Here, and only here, true happiness is found, joy unspeakable. 

Celestial fruits on earthly ground may grow, but how ? 
From faith and hope ? Yes, from faith and hope ! glorious 
hope. Xothing else is substantial, enduring, satisfying, 
worth seeking for, living for. " This world is all a fleeting 
show." 

The longer you live, the oftener you will realize the 
truth of others' experience — 

" Human hopes and looks deceive us." 

You may have friends to-day, but none to-morro'^^:. You 
may have an abundance one year, but be in want the next. 
You may retire to rest, feeling peaceful and happy, and 
awake with a sad and sorrowful heart. You may have 
health and beauty, but it will soon fade and disappear. 
You may be loved one hour, and hated the next. 

Enduring happiness, substantial pleasures, true riches, 
unfading joys, real honors, depend upon it, great folks and 
little folks, cannot be in these low grounds of sorrow. 

" This world can never give 
The bliss for which we sigh." 

Look, then, from the changing to the changeless ; from 



336 IJTTLE FOLKS HAPPY ? HOW OTHERWISE ! 

the shadow to the substance ; from poor, feeble man to the 
great and mighty Lord. 

Alas, alas ! what multitudes, even of the young, are this 
hour weeping over blasted hopes, faded beauty, decaying 
health, false friends, and bitter disappointments ! All be- 
cause the}^ expected their immortal spirits to be satisfied 
with the things of this "vain delusive world." 

Will you have a few of the thousands of illustrations left 
on record ? " Xerxes crowned his footmen in the morning 
and beheaded them in the evening of the same day." "An- 
dromacus, the Greek emperor, crowned his admiral in the 
morning, and then took off his head in the afternoon." 
"Roffensis had a cardinal's hat sent to him, but ere it 
reached him, his head was cut ofiV Severus, emperor of 
Rome, said, "I have been everything, and everything is 
nothing ;" and Avhen about to die, ordering the urn to be 
brought, in which his ashes were to be laid, he said : " Lit- 
tle urn, thou shalt contain one for whom the world was too 
little." Constantine the Great, said, " Add heap to heap, 
accumulate riches upon riches, extend the bounds of your 
possessions, conquer the whole world, and in a feio days 
your grave will be all you will have." 

But why multiply instances of this kind, since every 
day's life, and hour's experience teaches us the folly of 
seeking pleasure or happiness, peace or enjoyment from any 
other source than from religion ? 

" 'Tis religion that can give 
Solid pleasures while we live ; 
'Tis religion must supply 
All our comforts when we die. 
Be the living God our friend. 
And our joys shall never end." 



337 



EARTHLY BLISS UNSATISFYING, EVANESCENT. 

" The spider's most attenuated thread 
Is cord, is cable, to man's tender tie 
On earthly hliss ; it breaks at every breeze." 

The pleasures of this world are so transitory and fleet- 
ing, that it seems a crime for man to i^ass his days in 
frivolous pursuits, or stake, as many do, their whole mind 
upon what, before to-morrow's sun shall go down, will 
become as mist and vapor. The uncertainty of life, the 
dark veil which covers the future from the piercing eye of 
man, the ignorance of what a day may bring forth, have a 
salutary eflect upon the thoughtful, and wean them from a 
too great love of the w^orld and its pleasures, or of them- 
selves. Though there be a few that live to the age of 
threescore years and ten, it is no guarantee that we shall 
live till then. Health and youth are not to be relied on, 
for the nipping frost often destroys in an hour the fairest 
flower, and the lightning from heaven often rends the 
sturdy oak. If we place our hearts upon the riches of the 
world, they fade away before our sight, and the hard 
earnings of years perish in a day. 

" "Why should we lay up treasures here below, 
Where moth and rust corrupt ? Why fix our heart 
On that from which so quickly we must part ? 

Why on an ocean where such tempests blow. 

Embark so rich a freight ? Why, 'midst the snow 
Of so unkind a winter, plant a flower 
So fragrant, yet so frail ! Why build Hope's tower 

Where lig-htnino-s flash and whelming^ torrents flow! 
But if our highest energies are bent 

In God and heaven a portion to insure. 



338 EAKTHLY BLISS UiNSATISFYING, EVANESCENT. 

'Midst every change our wealth will be secure ; 
When the destroying angels forth are sent, 
When melts away the starry jBrmament, 

Our bliss, unharmed, shall, e'en like God, endure." 

The fairest morning often becomes clouded, and ends in 
gloom and sadness. Going forth to enjoy a day's pastime, 
and returning from it, are two very different things. A 
sudden storm may arise and disperse the merry groups, or 
a quarrel separate chief friends. At any rate, disappoint- 
ments are numerous, and often weary and slow are the 
home-bound footsteps that at morn were so light and glad- 
some. So it is in human life. But if God is our friend 
who changeth not, and our refuge and covert from the 
tempests, if heaven is our happy home to look forward to, 
we need never fear the sorrows and troubles we may meet 
with by the way. 

Youth is like a May-day, because the flower is the prom- 
ise of the ripening fruit and the perfect seed. So, while 
you are young, it is the very best time to begin to serve 
the Lord, and then in old age you will bear much fruit to 
his honor and glory. Give him your hearts now, before 
the evil days come, when you shall say, " I have no pleas- 
ure in them." For 

" A flower, when offer' d in the bud, 
Is no vain sacrifice." 

Improve the present : be wise to-day, 'tis madness to 
defer ! The present moment is yours while you have it — 
and only the present. Make haste, oh, mortal, make haste ! 
Do what good thy hand flndeth to do with thy might. 
Make haste ere your glass is run, ere " the silver cord is 
loosed or the golden bowl be broken." 



339 




THE MOTHER'S DEATH-BED. 

" We watched her breathhig through the night, 
Her breathing soft and low, 
And in her breast the wave of life 
Kept heaving to and fro. 

" So silently we seem'd to speak, 
So slowly moved about, 
As we had lent her half our powers 
To eke her being out. 

" Our very hopes belied our fears. 
Our fears our hopes belied, 
We thought her dying when she slept, 
And sleeping when she died. 

** For when the morn came dim and sad, 
And chill with early showers, 
Her quiet eyelids closed — she had 
Another morn than ours." 



340 



AKE LITTLE FOLKS KIND TO THEIR MOTHERS? 

They should always do everything to please and make 
them happy. 

Come, little boy, and you, little girl, what answer can 
you give to this question ? Who was it that watched 
over you when you were a helpless baby ? Who nursed 
you and fondled you, and never grew weary in her love ? 
Who kept you from the cold by night, and the heat by 
day ? Who guarded you in health, and comforted you 
when you were ill ? Who was it that wept when the fever 
made your skin feel hot, and your pulse beat quick and 
hard ? Who hung over your little bed when you were 
fretful, and put the cooling drink to your parched lips ? 
Who sang the pretty hymn to please you as you lay or 
knelt down by the side of the bed, in prayer ? Who was 
glad when you began to get well ? And who carried you 
into the fresh air to help your recovery ? Who has borne 
with your faults, and been kind and patient in your childish 
ways ? W^ho loves you still, and who contrives, and works, 
and prays for you every day you live ? Is it not your 
mother — your own dear mother ? l^ow then, let me ask 
you, are you hind to your mother f Do you ahvays obey 
her cheerfully, try to please her in everything ? When she 
speaks, do you hear her voice — listen attentively, saying, 
" Mother, what is it ? Here I am, at your service." Does 
she say " it is time to retire ?" — what now ? Spring to 
your little bed-chamber in a minute ? Is it time to rise ? 
Do the birds sing? Up, ii^jt?.-' in a jerk — quick! bounce 
up and on your knees before the Lord in thankful praise. 
Is it time for family prayer, for reading the big book, tun- 
ing harps in songs melodious ? Be on the spot instantly. 
Is it time to labor, do this or that outdoor or in, up stairs 
or down ? At it in a minute, make haste. 



341 



THE DYING MOTHER'S BEST GIFT. 

A LITTLE boy about five years of age, entered the room 
where his mother lay on her death-bed. For awhile he 
stood silent and sad. At length the mother said, feebly — 

*' My child, will you not ask me how I do ?" 

Said the boy, " I know how you do, mother, you are very 
sick." 

She called him to her side, and he stood leaning upon 
the bed, looking into his mother's face, as she said, " Do I 
look a§ I used to when I was well, Charley ?" 

"No, mother, your eyes are sunken, and your face is 
pale and thin." 

" Well, Charles, sometimes people who are very sick, as 
I am, do not get well. I may not get well." 

" I know it, mother ; my little brother, Frankie, who was 
sick last year, did not get well : he died. Do you wish to 
die, mother ?" 

" I should like to get well to take care of you, if it is the 
Lord's will ; but if not, I am willing to die. Do you not 
wish me to get well, Charley ?" 

" Yes, mother, I want you to get well ; but if the Saviour 
wants you to go and live with him, I am willing you should 
go, mother." 

Then for awhile they looked at each other ; he earnestly, 
thoughtfully ; she with all a mother's fondness beaming from 
her eyes, feeling that she saw him for the last time on earth. 
She then took from her pillow a little Bible, soiled with 
much use, and told her boy how she prized it, and how 
precious were its promises, and bade him read and love it 
for her sake, for it told him of the Saviour, and the way of 
life. 



342 

" And did the disciples write in this book all they knew 
of the Saviour?" 

" Yes," said she, " all that God would have them write : 
it is all his word." 

The boy took the book, promising to read it and to love 
it ; but after a pause — 

" Mother," said he, " this reminds me of some poetry I 
read the other day." And he repeated : 

" My mother's hands this Bible clasped, ' 

She, dying, gave it me." 

The mother kissed her child, looked mournfully on him 
for a few moments, and thus they parted to meet no more 
on earth. 

These lines, by the mother's request, were written in the 
Bible she gave her child, and in coming years, should his 
life be spared, he will read them, and who will doubt the 
beneficial influence of that parting hour ? 

" This book is all that's left me now ; 
Tears will unbidden start ; 
With faltering lip and throbbing brow, 
I press it to my heart. 

" For many generations past. 
Here is our family tree ; 
My mother's hands this Bible clasp'd, 
She, dying, gave it me." 



" The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them : 
but transojressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness." 
Prov. xi. 6. 



343 



THE WOMAN-TATTLER. AWFUL! 

" Oh ! could there in this world be found 
Some little spot of happy ground, 
Where village pleasures might go round 
Without the village tattling !" 

Talk ? No end to it ! She takes the lead, engrosses 
the time, runs from one subject to another as fancy dic- 
tates, without instructing or edifying. How much precious 
time is worse than lost ! 

There are some few great talkers who talk sensibly, inter- 
estingly, edifyingly ; but these instances are rare. Gener- 
ally, as Solomon says, " a fool's voice is known by the mul- 
titude of words." " The words of a wise man's mouth are 
gracious : but the lips of the fool swallow him up." " The 
tongue is a little member and boasteth great things." 

Is it possible a man or woman given to so much common- 
place, senseless loquacity can be a meek and lowly follower 
of Jesus ? " Death and life are in the power of the tongue." 
" Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips 
put far from thee." " In the multitude of words there 
wanteth not sin." " He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth 
his life." 

The right government of the tongue is a subject of vital 
importance, and which we cannot disregard with impunity. 
" If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth 
not his tongue, that man's religion is vain." " By thy 
words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt 
be condemned." " Out of the abundance of the heart the 
mouth speaketh." Words are the index of the heart. 

In short — when our hearts are right we shall never want 
for topics of conversation, which will " please our neighbor 
for his good to edification." " A good man, out of the good 
treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things." 



344 



"MY MOTHER KNOWS BEST." 

Certainly, little folks, and we are delighted to hear 
you say so. It is a good sign ; it shows at once how cheer- 
fully and speedily you obey her reasonable commands. 
Such children never, on any occasion, set up their Eben- 
ezers or self-will, but are always ready to fly on wings of 
obedience. 

Nothing is so beautiful, lovely, praiseworthy, as obedient 
children — little boys and girls always ready, always will- 
ing to jump, skip, hop, and run in the path of duty, on the 
first instant the word is given. Never, never say " I can't," 
or " By and by," but now^ this moment, quick I " Yes, 
mother ; I loill obey ; it is right, it is reasonable, God so 
commands." 

Some boys and girls, badly trained, are huffy, bristle up 
porcupinely when requested to do certain things. Is not 
this awful ? 

There are a great many occasions when mothers do not 
see fit to give their children leave to go where and do what 
they wish, and how often are they rebellious and pouting 
in consequence of it ! But this is not jDleasing to God. 
The true way is cheerful acquiescence in mother's decision. 
Trust her, and smooth down your ruffled feelings by the 
sweet and beautiful thought, " My mother knows best." 
It will save you many tears and much sorrow. It is the 
gratitude you owe her who has done and suffered so much 
for you. 

Tell your mother ? Certainly, young friends ; keep 
nothing concealed she ought to know ; never do anything 
you would be ashamed to tell her. Be willing always to 
open the secret recesses of your heart. 



345 




MOTHER AND DAUGHTER AT FATHER'S GRAVE. 

Look at this, little friends ; see the mother and her 
lovely little daughter dropping tears of sorrow for one 
dear to them as life. " Blessed are the dead that die in the 
Lord." 

" Fare thee well, my father, 

Until the trump shall sound, 
And wake thee from thy resting-place, 
The cold and silent ground. 

" 'Tis then we hope to meet thee 
In a better world than this. 
Where tears are wiped from every eye, 
And all is perfect bliss." 
15* 



346 



THE MOTHER'S DUTIES, THE MOTHER'S INFLUENCE. 

Home is the centre of woman's duties and responsibil- 
ities ; yet from this centre shines forth many a cheering 
ray to light up a gloomy world. " The unbelieving hus- 
band is sanctified by the wife ;" and many a believing 
husband is encouraged by the faithful wife. Brother, do 
you hold family prayer ? Do you know how easy the task 
when the loving wife lights the lamp, lays the Bible by 
your side, and tells the little children to " sit down iand be 
still, while papa prays ?" And yet, how hard the task 
when the wife is cold, seems ioo busy with other things, 
and makes no preparation for prayer ! Sister in the Lord, 
if your husband is a Christian and does not hold family 
prayer it is your fault. We need not tell you that it is 
your duty to continue the family altar when your husband 
is absent or sleeping in the tomb. 

" The future destiny of the child is always the work of 
the mother." " Train up a child in the way he should go, 
and when he is old he will not depart from it." The father 
should assist by every means in his power ; yet, the train- 
ing of a child must devolve mostly upon the mother. 
Every child should hear its mother pray. Many a great 
and good man has attributed his conversion to the labors 
of a Christian mother, who would constantly take him 
alone and lay her soft hand upon his little head and teach 
him to pray. Mother, do you thus cast bread upon the 
waters to be gathered up by your children when you are in 
the tomb ? Will your children remember you as a pray- 
ing mother? How do you expect to stand up in judgment 
and hear your lost child say, " I never heard my mother 
pray ?" 

Example has a powerful effect upon little children. They 



THE mother's duties, THE MOTHER'S IXPLUEXCE. 347 

will not remain little children long, therefore you must 
" work while it is day, for the night cometh, when no man 
can work." If there were more Hannahs there would be 
more Samuels. 

Said John Randolph, of Roanoke : " I should have been 
a French atheist if it had not been for one reflection, and 
that was the memory of the time when my departed 
mother used to take my little hands in hers, and cause me, 
on my bended knees, to say, " Our Father, who art in 
heaven." 

Well may woman rejoice in a mission so far-reaching and 
glorious in its possible results. 

Man, then, owes to woman not only his childhood, but 
his manhood. The mother follows her child through life ; 
her influence is illimitable and indestructible. Especially, 
and in a higher sense, is this true of the Christian mother. 
There is nothing more irresistible and permanent to man 
than the early impressions of a pious mother, enshrined in 
his heart, shielded by the simple charm of youthful remem- 
brances. However silenced or neglected, the mysterious 
influence of a mother's love and faith will one day reassert 
the influence of bygone years. 

" My mother's voice ! how often creeps 
Its cadence on my lonely hours, 
Like healing sent on wings of sleep, 
Or dew to the unconscious flowers ! 

" I can forget her melting prayer 
While leaping pulses madly fly ; 
But in the still, unbroken air. 

Her gentle tones come stealing by — 
And years, and sin, and manhood flee, 
And leave me at my mother's knee." 



348 



-*^^^' 




MY MOTHER'S GRAVE. 

The relics of departed worth 
Lie shrouded here in gloom ; 

And here, with aching heart, I mark 
My own dear mother's tomb. 

Oh, as upon her peerless grave 

I fix my weeping eyes, 
How many fond remembrances 

In quick succession rise ! 

Again her kind maternal voice 

Falls on my listening ear, 
As when she taught my youthful soul, 

The God of love to fear. 



Father of heaven ! my mother's God ! 

Before Thy blissful seat. 
Among the glorious heirs of light, 

May I that mother meet ! 



349 



TELLING MOTHER, AND ASKING MOTHER. 

GiELS, how is it — do you ask your mother if it is right 
and proper to do this, to do that, go to this place or that, 
say this or that, read this book or paper or that book or 
paper, mingle in this company or that company, attend 
this place of worship or that place of worship, this school 
or that school, this party or that party ? • Do you consult 
her in CA^ery particular, in little things and great things, 
things temporal and spiritual, concerning which you have 
the least doubt of their safety or propriety ? 

Mothers know, or should know, what is best for their 
children ; what is safe, wise, consistent, modest, pure, lovely, 
and of good report. A discreet mother, God-fearing, influ- 
enced by heavenly wisdom, is a treasure, priceless, " Apples 
of gold in pictures of silver." 

Girls, be sure and listen to mother, her wise counisels, 
every word of instruction that falls from her lips, lest one 
of you say, " How have I hated instruction, and my heart 
despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my 
teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me !" 

Oh, how many sons and daughters have been ruined, 
soul and body, by venturing on forbidden ground secretly, 
saying, " Mother will not know it, father will not know it." 

" They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of 
the Lord ; they would none of my counsels ; they despised 
all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their 
way, and be filled with their own devices." 

Whenever you do wrong, err from the truth, say things 
or do things you ought not, go to your beloved parent, in 
the simplicity and honesty of your heart, confess your fault, 
and pray God to forgive you. 



350 



THE KAME OF MOTHER, DEAR? WHAT NAME 
DEARER ? 

Oh ! how much is in that name — " Mother !" It is the 
whispering of a gentle voice that rocks to sleep in the 
cradle of its love every care of life. It has a charm 
that sustains and cheers us when everything else earthly 
fails. 

Mother ! It is the voice that we never tire in listening 
to, and its sweet tones make us forget life's burdens. 

A mother's love ! can any one fathom it ? Pure, deep, 
and truthful, springing from no improper or selfish motiA'CS, 
it is always ready to make any sacrifice, however painful, 
for the pleasure of the object of its affections. We look in 
vain through the world for another example of such love as 
hers. 

Have you a mother? Cherish her, comfort lier, cheer 
her by your pleasant looks and consoling words ; devote 
the remainder of your life, if your are both spared, to the 
care and comfort of her " who had thine earliest kiss." 

Have you no mother? None to go to in the trying 
hour ? None to share your troubles and to whom you can 
tell your grief? Do you realize the absence of the hands, 
than all others most gentle and loving ? Live, then, to meet 
her above ! Let your life be a constant remembrance of 
her who has gone ! 

Dear child, 

" Be kind to your mother, for when thou wast young, 
Who loved thee so fondly as she ? 
She caught the first accents that fell from thy tongue, 
And join'd in thy innocent glee." 

Youthful reader, thy mother is thy best earthly friend. 
The world may forget you — thy mother, never ; the world 



THE NAME OF MOTHER, DEAR ? 351 

may wilfully do you many wrongs — thy mother, never ; 
the world may persecute you while livings and when dead 
plant the ivy and the nightshade of slander upon your 
grassless grave ; but thy mother will love and cherish you 
while living, and if she survive you, will weep for you 
when dead such tears as none but a mother knows how to 
weep. Love thy mother ! Do you love her ? What the 
proof? Jesus says, " He that loveth me keepeth my com- 
mandments." Kow, if you love your mother it will man- 
ifest itself. Every little boy and girl who loves mother 
will be kind, attentive, obedient, ready to do quickly what- 
ever told, cheerfully, smilingly. A son that will disobey 
his mother, exhibit a spirit of unkindness toward her, treat 
her disrespectfully or abusively in the least, is sure to 
smart for it sooner or later. Nature herself cries out in 
vengeance against it ; all heaven gathers blackness. The 
most fearful, awful judgments are denounced against diso- 
bedient, recreant sons and daughters. Ha^rk I "• Cursed 
be he that setteth light by his father or his rnotl^er ; and all 
the people shall say. Amen." Deut. xxvii, 16. 

" The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to 
obey his mother^ tl^e ravens of the valley shall pick it out, 
and the young eagles shall eat it." Prov. xxx. 17. 

J^^ sui^e to make your dear mother a special friend, a 
friend above all others, and chief confidant. Conceal noth- 
ing from her ; but make her acquainted with the company 
you keep, the books you read, and even the faults which 
you commit. 

Happy the sons, happy the daughters who are no,t ^f^^ic^ 
to communicate to their mother their most secvet pa* objec- 
tionable thoughts. Whilst they remain thus artless and 
undisguised they are free from danger, 



352 




THE EAGLE. 

YouxG friend, the eagle is a wonderful bird — marvellous ; 
so are all God's works and creatures. The sight of this 
bird is quick, strong, and piercing. See Job, xxxix. 27. 

''Is it at thy voice that the eagle soars? 
And therefore maketh his nest on high ? 
The Rock is the place of his habitation. 
He abides on the crag, the place of strength, 
Thence he pounces upon his prey ; 
His ej-es discern afar off. 
E'en his young ones drink down blood ; 
J And wheresoe'er is slaughter, there is he.' 

The flight of this bird is as sublime as it is rapid and 
impetuous. Xone of the feathered tribe soar so high. 
" They that wait upon the Lord shall mount up as eagles." 
"Kiches," says Solomon, "certainly make themselves 
wings : they fly away a£ an eagle toward heaven." JF^rov. 
xxiii. 5. 



353 



THE EYES OF GOD ON LITTLE FOLKS. 

'•Never do a wicked action, 
Speak no sinful word ; 
When you think there is no danger 
You'll be seen or heard. 

God's eye ever is upon j'ou, 
He is always near, 

Knowing every word and action- 
Cease that eye to fear ?" 

The eyes of God are everywhere, in every house, field, 
room, company, alone, or in a crowd — always upon you; 
and they are eyes that read hearts as well as actions. 

Recollect you have to do vidth an all-seeing God, who 
never slumbereth nor sleepeth, w^ho understands your 
thoughts afar off, and with whom the night shines as the 
day. You may lock the door, draw the blind, shut the 
shutters, put out the candle — it makes no difference. God 
sees you. Y^ou may go aw^ay, like the prodigal, into a far 
country, and think that there is nobody to watch your 
conduct ; but the eye and ear of God are there before you. 
You may deceive your parents or employers, tell them 
falsehoods, be one thing before their faces, and another be- 
hind their backs, but you cannot deceive God. He knows 
you through and through. He heard what you said to-day. 
He knows w^hat you are thinking of at this minute. He 
has set your most secret sins in the light of his countenance, 
and they will one day come out before the world to your 
shame, except you take heed, repent, put away your sins. 
God never sleeps, never slumbers. " His eyes behold, his 
eyelids try the children of men." God looks from heaven, 
his high and holy habitation, and beholds the evil and the 
good, even afar off. Read the one hundred and thirty-ninth 



354 THE EYES OP GOD OX LITTLE FOLKS. 

Psalm. Every thought is known to him. Beware how 
you sin in thought, word, or deed. 

" You're not too young for God to see. 
He knows your name and nature too ; 
And sees your actions through and through. 

" He listens to the words you say. 

He knows the thoughts you have within, 
He's sure to see you if you sin. 

" Oh, how can children tell a lie. 

Or cheat in play, or steal, or fight ; 
If they remember God is by, 

And has them always in his sight ? 

" Then when you want to do amiss, 
However pleasant it may be, 
You'll always try to think of this — 
You're not too young for God to see." 



Spend your evening hours at home, boys. You may 
make them among the most agreeable and profitable of 
your lives, and when vicious companions should tempt you 
away, remember that God has said, " If sinners entice thee, 
consent thou not." 

"Though others may seek far and wide 
To gain but a moment of bliss. 
Ah, who would be longing to roam. 
When taught by the joy tasted here ?" 



355 
BOKN OF KICH PARENTS. 

A BLESSING OR A CXJRSE— WHICH ? 

How few children of the rich succeed in life ! They start 
high, but land low ; they are born in sunshine, but die in 
shame. Wherefore ? They are idle. With abundance of 
wealth they are indulged ; they play the part of ease, lux- 
ury, leisure, lovers of sport and expensive pleasure. ISTot 
being obliged to serve humanity, toil to supply human 
wants, they fall into the evil snare. 

" So the issue of their sloth : 
Of sloth conies pleasure, of pleasure comes riot, 
Of riot comes disease, of disease comes spending, 
Of spending comes want, of want comes theft, 
And of theft comes hanging." • 

' A large per cent, of these sons of the rich run wild in 
sin, tarry long at the wine, play high at the gambling- 
table, run into all manner of excesses, live a dishonor to 
their name, and die in disgrace ; and all of this is the fruit 
of their unfortunate idleness. All counsels, examples, 
wholesome discipline, is lost upon them, unless they are 
honorably and usefully employed ; they must be occupied 
by good purposes and pursuits, or Satan is sure to take 
them in his snare, and pay them off with the " wages of sin." 

Christians often sigh to be relieved from their burdens, 
but the moment they are removed, they begin to decline 
in spiritual life, and in time they will totally apostatize from 
the faith and the Christian life. Satan prays that they 
•may throw off responsibility. 

Let no one ask to be idle, but pray for work, pray that 
all the strength, time, and talents may be employed in 
virtuous duty ; then the enemy shall have no power to 
harm. 



356 




CAIRO, ONE OF THE LARGEST CITIES OF EGYPT. 

Look on your maps, little readers. Beautiful? Ex- 
ternally ! But oh, how wicked the people ! The most 
beautiful of the beautiful is often marred by sin. Look at 
the beautiful cities of France ; cities, also, in lands enlight- 
ened, ^ospelly, for centuries, as in England. Any sign of 
"the beast?" Cast your eye on Washington, D. C, the 
seat of our own Government, in the land of the free. 
Where is there a place more corrupt, heaven-daring ? 

How many among our legislators— law-makers— in both 
houses, with him, also, in the presidential chair, that does 
not bow the knee to Baal ! What think you of one ele- 
vated to the high office of chief magistrate, a sottish slave to 
the vile "Indian weed," a regular attendant on the theatre, 



CAIKO. 357 

the sink-hole of lewdness, where the most abandoned of 
both sexes congregate ? 

Then to cap the climax, what think you of the outstand- 
ing, high-handed, God-defying iniquity of trampling down 
of holy time, the Lord's day, unblushingly ! 

What else look for now but a general, simultaneous rush 
to the theatre, to the pipe and the quid ! also in desecrat- 
ing a day set apart especially for the service of the sanctu- 
ary ! What saith the Lord ? " The wicked walk on every 
side when the vilest men are exalted." I^s. xii. 8. 

Walk on every side ! What is still more fearful, heart- 
rending, grievous, is the profound silence of the pulpit ! 
Where the minister, the watchman on Zion's walls, that has 
the moral courage to sound the alarm, raise the warning 
voice, that takes the bold and godly stand of Elijah, Daniel, 
Nehemiah, Paul, Peter, John, or James — that thunders, 
thimders, thuxdees ! How in Xew York city ! Is not 
the sun darkened, and does not the moon fail to give forth 
her light — wherefore ? " The fine gold has become dim ! 
the most fine gold is changed ! the stones of the sanctuary 
are poured out in the top of every street." JLmn. iv. 1. 

The salt has lost its savor ! What now is it fit for — the 
dunghill ? Would it be thus if parents did their duty in 
the house, and ministers thundered the truth of God ? 



" Doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her 
voice ? Unto you, O men, I call ; and my voice is to the 
sons of man." JProv. viii. 1, 4. 

" He taught me also, and said unto me. Let thy heart 
retain my words : keep my commandments and live." 
Prov. iv. 4. 



358 



A WICKED WOMAN. 



We speak of John Allen of the "Water-street notoriety, 
as the wickedest man in jN'ew York ; but is he not a saint 
compared with the woman nnder consideration — wherefore ? 
She has had light additional, the glowing mid-day sun- 
beams of salvation shining brightly around her from her 
infancy. Once she professed purity of soul, perfect love, ad- 
vocated publicly the doctiine of entire sanctifi cation, " holi- 
ness to the Lord." Hear now a word from her own lips : 

"I think if the different churches of a city would rent a 
building where there should be a billiard-table, one or two 
ninepin-alleys, a reading-room, a garden, and grounds for 
ball-pI^ying or innocent lounging, they would do more to 
keep their young people from the ways of sin than a 
Sunday-school could. N'ay, more ; I would go further. I 
would have a portion of the building fitted up with scenery, 
and a stage for the getting up of tableaux or dramatic per- 
formances, and thus give scope for the exercise of that his- 
trionic talent, of which there is so much lying unemployed 
in society." 

Alas ! how are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of 
war perished ! Tell it not, publish it not ! " Lest the daugh- 
ters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncir- 
cumcised triumph." 2 Sam. i. 20. 

There is no offence upon the face of earth which causes 
such deep, overwhelming, heart-burning grief and sorrow 
as does this one single crime of seduction, of leading the 
youth of our cities astray in paths of vice and sinful amuse- 
ments. 

Who knows what multitudes will go to billiard-rooms, to 
theatres, gambling-dens, and " the house of her whose steps 
take hold on hell," through the instrumentality of this 



A WICKED WOMAX. 359 

wicked woman, this traitorous apostate ! Take another case 
of outstanding wickedness in high places. A professed 
minister of Jesus, a popular speaker in New York city, ad- 
dressing the " Young Men's Christian Association," says in 
his public address — 

" There should be at least one fraternity-room like that 
recently established in the neighborhood of St. John's Park, 
in every ward in the city. These should be in conspicuous 
locations, handsomely furnished, brilliantly lighted, and 
provided with facilities for study and social intercourse." 
The speaker believed the rooms should contain well-appoint- 
ed gymnasiums, bowling-alleys, opportunities for playing 
chess, draughts, and dominoes. 

Friends, what are we coming to ! That the Church is 
rapidly conforming to the spirit and pleasures of the world, 
none can deny. The most alarming feature is, that promi- 
nent preachers lead the way, and the people blindly follow. 

One of the most popular preachers writes a novel, and 
for a large sum of money allows it to be published in a 
paper devoted to the pampering of the corrupt tastes of 
lost sinners ; and then with his clerical robes still wrapped 
around him, allows it to be dramatized and acted in the 
principal theatres of the country, thus lending his great influ- 
ence to aid the work of soul-destruction, while he still claims 
to be a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, to 
cap the climax of this absurdity and wickedness, the book 
is advertised and oflered as a premium for subscribers, by 
some of the principal religious papers of the country. 



"While men slept the enemy came and sowed tares 
among the wheat, and went his way." 3fatt. xiii. 25. 



360 



PARENTS, BEWARE OF THE SERPENTS. 

Do not read bad books or bad papers, for the same reason 
that you would not associate with bad men. They will 
corrupt you. For the same reason, do not permit your 
children to read them. How many do this, when they 
would not suffer them to associate with the profane, intem- 
perate, and obscene ! and yet the former is the more dan- 
gerous. Your children or yourself might be disgusted with 
the latter, and be put on guard against corruption, while in 
the case of the former, the evil is accomplished inadver- 
tently and unawares. As good company and good books 
will improve your manners and your morals, so bad com- 
pany and bad books will impair and ruin them. A single 
volume may contaminate and lead to ruin ; it may be the 
starting-point of departure from rectitude ; it may place 
the reader beyond recovery. Then how careful all ought 
to be in this matter, especially parents, and keep the dan- 
gerous things out of sight ! 

The evil begins with the " Harpers," the " Leslies," Ihe 
" Ledgers," the " N"orwoods" — serpents in the grass, Sa- 
tanic transformations. 

The enticing away giddy, light-headed females from the 
paternal roof is becoming more and more frequent. What 
the cause ? Is it not in the character of the reading, the 
tendency of the so-called literature which enters into the 
reading of girls and young ladies ? It is vitiating in its 
character, both to the mind and the morals, and excites a 
morbid taste for the mock-sentimental, undermines princi- 
ple, and prepares many to become an easy prey to the wiles 
of the seducer. It is an insidious poison, and makes its 
approaches and develops its effects so gradually, as to be 
imperceptible until its work of ruin is accomplished. 



361 

The country is flooded with such " literature," and those 
having charge of either sex cannot be too vigilant in guard- 
ing against its introduction into their houses, for it is one 
of the most effectual instruments in the hands of the en- 
emies of purity in accomplishing their purposes. 

And who's to blame for these numerous elopements and 
this " elopement literature ?" On whose shoulders rests 
the enormous guilt ? 

"When will elopements, abductions, and seductions cease ? 
How long ere lewdness, libertinism, and debauchery cease 
to stalk in open day ? 

When will the lips of a strange woman cease to drop as 
a honey-comb, her mouth to be smoother than oil — but 
her end bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword ? 
When will her house cease to be the way to hell, " going 
down to the chambers of death ?" 

Never, till ministers cease to write " Norwoods" for " Led- 
gers" and theatres. Never, till religious editors cease to 
advertise and puff novels, the light, trashy literature of 
the day. 



LOOK AGAIN AT THE RESULTS OF THIS FICTION. 

A w^KiTER in the " Presbyterian" states that in Chicago, 
at matinees of those licentious exhibitions. Undine and 
Black Crook, nine-tenths of the large audiences were 
Sabbath-school scholars ; that so energetic were these re- 
cruiters to seduce youth from the rural villages to witness 
scenes that would have been infamous in Sodom and Go- 
morrah, that several steamboats were chartered to cruise 
up and down the shore of the lake to bring in children to 
visit the slaughter-house of purity and virtue. 

16 



362 




NEW YORK VIEWED FROM WEST HOBOKEK 



The number of sects or denominations in the city of 
New York, professing to be more or less gospellized, are as 
follows : 

The Protestant Episcopal, sixty-three churches ; the Ro- 
manists, thirty-one (of which six are for Germans), and 
sixty-four ministers ; the Presbyterians have fifty-five ; the 
Dutch Reformed, twenty-two ; the Methodists, forty-one ; 
the Baptists, thirty-three ; the Congregationalists, four ; 
the Unitarians and Universalists, six ; the Jews, twenty- 
four synagogues ; and there are for miscellaneous sects, 
sixteen buildings or halls ; and still there are seven hundred 
and seventy-one thousand and seven hundred persons in 
this Christian city of New York, for whom no provision 
to worship Almighty God after any form has been made. 
Rome sat upon her seven hills ; New York sits surrounded 
by her seventy times seven vicinities. Within a radius of 
thirty miles, cities, towns, villages, hamlets spring up 
with the swiftness of magic around her. Each is a little 
New York. 



363 



IN THE WAY AND OUT OF THE WAY. 

^'■Thei'e is a way lohich seemeth right unto a man ; but the end thereof are tlie ways 
ofdeathy 

MES. DAEAVIN AXD MRS. TIMEWELL. 

3frs. Daricin. Can it be, Mrs. Timewell, you refuse 
Lucinda permission to accompany my daughters to the 
party, this evening ? 

Mrs. Timeioell. I must decline the invitation. 

Mrs. D. The party is select — what objection can you 
possibly have ? 

Mrs. T. Excuse me, Mrs. Darwin, if you please. 

Mrs. D. I insist on an explanation ; have I oifended, or 
my daughters ? 

3/rs. T. Xot in the least, Mrs. Darwin ; I still entertain 
the most kind, interesting, and affectionate regard for you 
and your family. Few daughters are naturally more 
amiable and lovely than yours; but God, I trust, in his in- 
finite mercy, has opened my eyes to see my errors. 

Mrs. D. Religious scruples : ha ! " Stand off, I am ho- 
lier than thou." 

Mrs. T. My dear Mrs. Darwin, think not I decline your 
kind invitation because I consider Lucinda more serious or 
circumspect in her deportment than your daughters — alas ! 
I fear she is less so. 

Mrs. D. Wherefore, then, your scruples ? 

3Irs. T. Should I not consult your interest as well as 
my own ? We are responsible for the influence our chil- 
dren exert. I feel it, Mrs Darwin — I feel it deeply! I 
have been standing on the verge of a fearful precipice ! 
Instead of seeking " first the kingdom of God and his righte- 
ousness," for my offspring, I have followed the general cur- 
rent, been more careful to decorate tlie body than the soul ; 



364 IX THE WAY AXD OUT OF THE WAY. 

more solicitous for them to appear well in society than be- 
fore God ! Yes, my friend, I have given days and weeks 
to worldly education and fashionable etiquette, and only 
moments to the concerns of the immortal spirit, and this 
mere shred of religious instruction has been commonplace ; 
an appeal to the memory rather than the heart. 

3frs. D, Mrs. Timewell, do you intend to debar your 
children, henceforth, from social intercourse ? 

Mi^s. T. By no means, Mrs. Darwin ; we are social be- 
ings — God has made us such. 

Mrs. D, What then ?■ 

Mrs. T. My first and great object is, hereafter, God 
helping me, to lead my children to the foot of the Cross, 
there to receive the holy impress ; then to select such asso- 
ciates, and only such, as may redeem. " He that walketh 
with wise men shall be wise." 

3frs. D. Will Lucinda be satisfied with religious asso- 
ciates ? If I mistake not, she has very little relish for 
the spiritual. Besides, her tastes and habits are formed. 
Your daughters, as well as mine, have been too long accus- 
tomed to gay and fashionable life,^ and nothing short of 
the romantic will sufiice. The current is set ; turn it you 
cannot. As soon attempt to hush Niagara's thundering 
cataract, or. stay his raging, foaming billows ! 

Mrs. T. Is there not hope ? Is there anything too hard 
for God ? Is his ear heavy, his arm shortened ? Are not 
his promises sure ? My hope is in God, the Eternal, the 
Ever-blessed. The present course I know is death. 

Mrs. D. I have no opinion, Mrs. Timewell, of this ex- 
treme sensitiveness, this over scrupulosity, this undue pre- 
ciseness ; have you not seen the result ? Mark those chil- 
dren that have been watched, and curbed, and catechised, 
when they do break loose, are they not generally the most 



IN THE WAY AND OUT OF THE WAY. 365 

reckless? Do they not dash headlong into all manner of 
excess and riot ? 

Mrs. T. Extremes should be avoided ; the Bible is the 
chart. Let God be true, though every man a liar. 

Mrs. D. There's Deacon Simpkins — who more precise, 
more rigidly cautious and scrupulous ! Only look at his 
children, especially his boys ; where can you find a more 
wild, reckless, harum-scarum set ? They are proverbial for 
their outlandishness ; and in point of theology, and a 
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, what are they ? Little 
above the Hottentots. 

Mrs. T. So, forsooth, if the Deacon had been less strict, 
less watchful and prayerful in his religious inculcations, 
given his children greater license to sin, idleness, and folly, 
they would have been far more likely to have become pious, 
useful, and devoted Christians ! Is this your logic ? About 
the common speed ! Mrs. Darwin, do you believe God ? 

Mrs. D. I do ; and profess to serve him. 

Mrs. T. Why then allude to Deacon Simpkins ! Does 
he train his children for God, by holy precept and example, 
in the way they should go ? As far from it as the East is 
from the West. You know it, I know it, everybody knows 
it. Instead of training his children " in the way they 
should go^'' they have never found the way, nor entered it. 
Talk about training children " in the way^^ when serving 
self and Satan ! The truth is, no man or child was ever 
" in the way^'' but always out of it, till born of God — of 
the Holy Spirit — made "new creatures in Christ Jesus;" 
" old things have passed away, and behold all things have 
become new ;" having new thoughts, new lives, new hopes, 
new desire, new joys. 



366 




LOOK AT THIS PICTURE, YOUNG FRIENDS. 

Is there not something rather jDleasant about it, smil- 
ingly beautiful, indicative of love, order, peace, salvation ? 
Here is a father, a mother, a son, and a sweet, well-behaved 
little dauojhter. Both of these children are listeninsj we 
take it, to what is said about Jesus, who came to seek and 
save that which is lost. 

Little folks lost ? Yes, they are ; just as really as the 
big folks are that sin against God. Children, capable of 
sinning against heavenly light, telling falsehoods, practic- 
ing deceit, manifesting ill-temper, self-will, disobedience to 
parents in any form, are guilty, under condemnation, and 
need pardon, forgiveness, the washing of regeneration, the 
atoning blood of Jesus. They have sinned voluntarily, 
grieved the Holy Spirit, and should be directed forthwith 
to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness. 



LOOK AT THIS PICTURE, YOUXG FKIEXDS. 367 

This we have said over and over in this book, " Apples 
of Gold," and we keep on saying it over and over, till we 
make the ears of little folks and big folks tingle, and flee 
to the outstretched arms of bleeding mercy. While we ring, 
peal on peal, as loud as we possibly can — thunderingly — that 
all little sinners are lost, lost! we are just as ready and 
willing to say to them that Jesus is ready to save them 
now, even to the uttermost, clasp them to his bosom of 
love. 

Why not — are they not fit subjects for Christ's blessing ? 
Will it be more appropriate for them to come after five, 
ten, or fifteen years more of sinning ? We do not wonder 
at the disciples, who in their eagerness to relieve the 
Saviour who was weary with his labor, forbidding the 
children to come ; but since those precious words were 
uttered, is it not a marvel that any should be found who 
even doubt the propriety of encouraging children to come 
to Christ publicly and privately ? 

How touchingly beautiful is that narrative !* There is 
nothing to compare with it in all the record of the Saviour's 
ministry. How our hearts swell with emotion when we 
contemplate the scene ! There are the mothers, who had 
been telling the children the story of the blessed Saviour, 
until their little hearts were alive with love for him and 
eager to rush to his embrace. And as they urge their way 
through the crowd and draw near, the disciples turn coldly 
upon them and forbid their coming — even rebuking them 
for their boldness. How chilling ! But the Saviour hears ; 
and turning from the throng he was addressing, with ex- 
tended arms and a look of love, he says, " Suifer little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such 

* See Matthew six. 13-15. 



368 LOOK AT THIS TICTURE, YOUNG FRIENDS. 

is the kingdom of heaven." And he took them up in his 
arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Who 
does not, in looking at this picture, involuntarily exclaim 
with the poet, 

" I wish that his hand had been placed on my head ; 
That his arm had been thrown around me ; 
That I might liave seen that kind look when he said, 
Let the little ones come uuto me." 



BRINGING THE LITTLE ONES TO THE GOOD 
SHEPHERD. 

" See Israel's gentle Shepherd stand. 
With all-engaging charms ; 
Hark how he calls the tender lambs. 
And folds them in his arniis. 

" 'Permit them to approach,' he cries, 
' I^or scorn their humble name ; 
For 'twas to bless such souls as these 
The Lord of angels came.' 

"We bring them. Lord, in thankful hands, 
And yield them up to thee ; 
Joyful that we ourselves are thine, 
Thine let our children be. 

" If they are left behind alone. 
Thy guardian care we trust ; 
That care shall heal our bleeding heart, 
If weeping o'er their dust." 



" Some trust in chariots and some in hoi*ses : but we will 
remember the name of the Lord our God. " Psalm xx. T. 



369 



WAITING? WHAT FOR? 

Why wait, when God says, " Go forward." Very many 
parents, we regret to say, do not anticipate or expect the 
early conversion of their children, because they do not 
really believe that it is possible. They think them incapa- 
ble of conviction, incapable of intelligent, saving faith, 
incapable of enjoying the witness and sanctifying grace of 
the Spirit. They rejoice to hope that " the seed will not 
be lost;" but that at some undetermined future the old, 
forgotten hymns, and prayers, and lessons will, by some 
m^iraculous power, revive, and that the children will at 
length become religious ; and thus, a warranted faith is 
supplanted by an undefined and unassured hope. 

" Now salvation^ Emblazon it in golden capitals, pa- 
rents, on your foreheads, door-posts, and gates — write it 
out, speak it out ; defer not. 

Make haste now, ere sin allures, before the world en- 
snares, the rigid chains of habit have bound your little 
ones ; noio^ while their hearts are soft and their imagina- 
tions unpolluted ; now is the time, the accepted time, the 
day of salvation. Every day, every hour, the hearts of 
your children increase in hardness. Every tick of the 
clock carries your unsaved ones further and further from 
God, things heavenly, hope eternal. 

Do your duty noio^ obey God noio^ and soon prisons will 
be turned into warehouses ; theatres, opera-houses, cathe- 
drals, nunneries, and convents into places for the worship 
of the true God — truth will prevail mightily, salvation go 
forth as the light of the morning, and angels tune their 
golden harps afresh. " Glory, glory, glory." 

"Jesus shall reign from shore to shore, 

Till suns shall rise and set no more." 

16* 



370 



A MIKACLE!— WHAT IS A MIRACLE? 

To save little folks ? Then it is a miracle to save the big 
folks ! Was there anything miraculous in the birth of 
Samuel, John the Baptist, and multitudes of other little 
ones that grew up in the Lord, as little Samuel and John 
the Baptist did ? Could these chosen vessels call to re- 
membrance any specified time when their little hearts were 
changed from nature to grace ? Is not every little child a 
chosen vessel ? Is not the atoning blood of Jesus sufficient 
to save a whole world of little folks ? And is not the Holy 
Spirit as ready and willing to apply the truth to every 
child as early as he applied it to the heart of John the Bap- 
tist ? 

It is said of John the Baptist, he had the Holy Spirit 
from his birth ; anything miraculous in this ? Does not 
the Spirit of God strive with every child at the earliest 
dawning of moral accountability ? This is the very time, 
the accepted time for parents to impart God's truth to the 
hearts of these undying little ones ; the day of salvation, 
seeking first " the kingdom of God and his righteousness." 

Parent, God in mercy breathed into your oflTspring the 
breath of life, and this life is to exist while God exists— for- 
ever and forever, either in glory everlasting or with devils 
and spirits damned ! Which will you choose for it ? " Take 
this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy 
wages." Ex. ii. 9. 

What these wages ? Will you receive them, train the lit- 
tle one Godward, exclusively, that it may dwell forever in 
heaven, singing, " Glory, glory to the Lamb who hath washed 
it in his own precious blood ?" The responsibility of this 
early dedication, holy training, and joys unspeakable around 
the throne of God evermore, rests on you. 



A MIllACLE ! WHAT IS A MIRACLE? 371 

Obey God and live ! Make up a family in heaven. The 
Holy Spirit is always ready and waiting to be gracious, to 
impart his saving, sanctifying influences to the heart of 
every one, even to the littlest of the little, when sought un- 
to in humble faith. " It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the 
flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, 
they are spirit and they are life." John^ vi. 63. 

Take the word of Christ, " which is quick and powerful, 
sharper than any two-edged sword," and bring it home to 
the inmost soul of your newly-born babe, the very instant 
it is capable of knowing good and evil. This is the philoso- 
pher's stone that turns everything into gold. 

Here is the secret of all successful family discipline, of 
"rearing the tender thought." Here is the secret of Han- 
nah's success in educating her first-born, a child of many 
prayers. She lent him to the Lord in the outset, forever, 
and believed the promises, trusted in God. 

Here, likewise, is the secret of success of Zechariah and 
Elizabeth in training their little son, born out of due time. 
The parents of John were holy ; consecrated entirely to 
God's service. " They were both righteous before God, 
walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the 
Lord blameless." Luke, i. 6. 

The Holy Spirit was their teacher, the word of life their 
watchword, the chief instrument in the salvation of this son 
of theirs, of whom it is said, " Among them that are born 
of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Bap- 
tist." " A word to the wise is sufficient." 

"Wisdom is justified of her children." 



" Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved : but he that 
is perverse in his ways shall fall at once." Prov. xxviii. 18. 



372 




HERE THEY ARE, FATHER, AND MOTHER, AKD THE 
SWEET LITTLE ONES. 

These parents united in family discipline harmoniously ? 
Unquestionably ; else, how clock-work, heaven in the do- 
mestic circle ? What father says, mother says ; what 
mother says, father says. When father corrects the little 
ones for disobedience, the mother coincides heartily, joy- 
fully — says, " So let it be." And when mother applies the 
rod of chastisement when it ought to be applied, does 
father interfere, say, " Spare the rod ?" NTot for a thousand 
worlds ! He knows it would cause friction, and may-be the 
ruin of the child. Here lies one grand secret of success 
in household training. Without this united, harmonious 
union, where is hope of good family government, salva- 
tion? 



FATHEE, AND MOTHER, AND THE LITTLE ONES. 373 

Affectionate mothers, be silent, open not your lips, we 
beseech you, when your better-half corrects the little ones, 
chastises them for disobedience, self-will, or misbehavior of 
any kind. Interfere not for the world ! Let your husband 
alone in the path of duty. Take no part on the side of dis- 
obedience. Let your children see and know you approve, 
most cordially and heartily, of good family discipline, the 
correcting the first movings of old Adam, the least devia- 
tion from strict rectitude, good order, and virtuous purity. 
Let your little ones see and know that father and mother 
are united firmly in extinguishing, at once and forever, 
every rising spark of disobedience in the family circle. 
Then, hope dawns, glorious hope ! Some very unwise, in- 
judicious mothers interfere, take sides with the children 
when the father is in the path of duty, correcting betimes. 

Thus families, even whole families, are ruined — for time, 
for eternity. The most perfect understanding and agree- 
ment should exist between husband and wife in family or- 
der and discipline. 

"What a beaatifal place is home, 

Where the husband and wife agree, 
Where the children are happy and glad. 
And skip about blithesome and free !" 



A WELL-EEGULATED FAMILY. 

We said to a pious parent, recently : " How is it that 
fevery child of yours is in such good subjection ?" The 
reply was : " We have made it a rule, a law in this house, 
that no child shall act in opposition to the will of the 
parent. The parent's will is expressed, the child must not 
disobey. That is an understood thing with our children." 



374 



MOTHERS THE LIGHT, THE HOPE, THE JOY. 

" The first hook read, and the last hook laid aside hy 
every child, is the conduct of its mother.'''' 

1. " First give yourself, then your child, to God. It is 
but giving him his own. N^ot to do it, is robbing God. 

2. Always prefer virtue to wealth — the honor that coijies 
from God to the honor that comes from men. Do this for 
yourself Do it for your child. 

3. Let your whole course be to raise your child to a high 
standard. Do not sink into childishness yourself. 

4. Give no needless commands, but when you command, 
require prompt obedience. 

5. !Never indulge a child in cruelty, even to an insect. 

6. Cultivate a sympathy with your child in all lawful 
joys and sorrows. 

7. Be sure that you never correct a child until you know 
it deserves correction. Hear its story first and fully. 

8. Never allow your child to whine or fret, or to bear 
grudges. 

9. Early inculcate frankness, candor, generosity, magna- 
nimity, patriotism, and self-denial. 

10. The knowledge and fear of the Lord are the begin- 
ning of wisdom. 

11. Never mortify the feelings of your child by upbraid- 
ing it with dulness, neither inspire it with self-conceit. 

12. Pray for and with your child, often and heartily, in 
your closet. 

13. Encourage all attempts at self-improvement, "with 
humble trust in Jesus." 



" Every word of God is pure : he is a shield unto them 
that put their trust in him." Prov. xxx. 5. 



375 




SEE IIIIS MOTHEE, LITTLE FOLKS AND GREAT FOLKS. 

What is she doing ? Imparting light heavenly to this 
child of hers — telling him about Jesus, who shed his pre- 
cious blood on Calvary to save sinners, little sinners and 
great sinners — " the way, the truth, the life ?" Beautiful, 
ain't it ? Too soon ? No, it ain't, mother. You should 
have commenced this blessed work at the earliest intellec- 
tual dawning, even before this little one of yours could 
utter a single syllable audibly. Begin where God begins. 
Let your smiles f)i'each, your eyes, your inward thought, 
every muscle. 

We say, and keep on saying, the Holy Spirit is waiting 
to be gracious, ready always to apply the truth, take the 
things that belc)ng to Christ and show them even to the 
littlest of the little ones. The Spirit and the Bride say to 
the little folks, " Come." And let every one that heareth 
say to them, " Come." 

The true ideal of Christian culture is — the salvation of 



376 SEE THIS MOTHER. 

childhood. That the child be so led that it shall not dxy 
cide against Christ in the hour of conscious choice ; that 
soon as capable of choosing between good and evil it shall 
be wisely taught ; that it shall choose the good ; that 
Christian influence shall be stronger than sinful ; that it 
shall follow Jesus at the first call. This is the divine or- 
der ; this is the divine purpose and the divine promise, rest 
assured. 

Mother, is your own soul on fire salvationly — your whole 
being richly imbued with the love of Jesus ? Is the Holy 
Spirit in you gloriously, the fruits thereof? Your little 
ones will see it, feel it, breathe it, live it. It's the holy at- 
mosphere in the nursery, the kitchen, the parlor that makes 
heaven. 

Childhood is like a mirror, catching and reflecting im- 
ages. One impious or profane thought uttered by a pa- 
rent's lip may operate upon the young heart like a careless 
spray of water thrown upon polished steel, staining it with 
rust which no after scouring can efface. 

Beware of the first, the least spark of the unholy or 
irascible ! " If ye have bitter envying and strife in your 
hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wis- 
dom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, 
devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confu- 
sion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from 
above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be 
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality 
and without hypocrisy." James, iii. 14-17. 



" All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the 
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, 
but is of the world." 1 JoJin, ii. 16. 



377 
SAVING THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

CONYERSATION BETWEEN A MOTHER AND HER PASTOR. 

Pastor. Where is little Ella, your daughter? Is she 
safe in the ark, on the way to glory, mounting up as on 
eao^les' winces? 

Mother. You surprise me, my dear pastor ; Ella, you 
are aware, is only four years of age. 

Pastor. Is she saved in Jesus ? Does she love prayer, 
praise, things heavenly and divine ? Is her soul alive in 
God, spiritually ? Has the atoning sacrifice been savingly 
applied to her young heart ? 

Mother. Am I to understand you to mean regeneration, 
the passing from death unto life ? 

Pastor. Certainly, sister, a change from nature to grace; 
the setting apart exclusively — Godward — sealed unto the 
day of redemption. 

Mother. You astonish me ! What ! this daughter of 
mine, so early in life, know God experimentally ? 

Pastor. Does not this little one of yours know good 
from evil ? Has she not arrived at the age of moral ac- 
countability ? Has she not the power to choose the good 
and refuse the evil ? When she sins does she not sin vol- 
untarily against light and knowledge ? If so, she holds 
the truth in unrighteousness, is brought under condemna- 
tion, and is exposed to wrath every moment. 

Mother. Do you mean, by what you say, this daughter 
of mine is in danger of eternal punishment ? 

Pastor. What saith the Scripture? "Except ye repent, 
ye shall all likewise perish." " The soul that sinueth, it 
shall die." "Every tree that bringeth not forth good 
fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." Matt. vii. 19. 



378 SAYIXG THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

" There is no respect of persons with God. For as many 
as have sinned without law, shall also j^erish without law." 
Rom, ii. 12. 

Mother. What does this child of mine know of repent- 
ance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, of 
living a holy life ? 

Pastor. She ought to know and does know very much 
of God's requirements, if your duty has been discharged 
faithfully in family discipline. (See Deut. vi. 6-9.) Does 
not little Ella know how to sin, to disobey her pa- 
rents ? When she disobeys you — manifests deceit, false- 
hood, ill-temper — does not her conscience bear witness of 
the same, and her thoughts, meanwhile, accuse her ? Does 
it require more intellect to repent of sin than to com- 
mit sin ? When your little girl comes to you penitently 
for wrong-doing, saying, "Mamma, I have been disobe- 
dient ! I am sorry ! I will do so no more ! Will you for- 
give me ?" You clasp the penitent one to your bosom, 
saying, "Forgive you, dear Ella, certainly, with all my 
heart.''^ Does not the child feel and know she is restored to 
your favor ? You see it in every look, thought, word, and 
action. Her young heart leaps joyfully. 

Mother. Very well, what is the inference ? 

Pastor. If Ella knows how to confess her sins to you, 
and put them away, and how to believe that she is accepted 
of you meanwhile, what greater reasoning powers are re- 
quired to confess her sins to God, and to believe that he, 
for Jesus' sake, washes her soul white in the blood of the 
Lamb ? 

Mother. This is a new idea. Is it possible that such a 
little creature can become a true follower of Jesus, walk in 
his footsteps brightly, shiningly, gloriously ? 

Pastor. It is glorious, and not less true than glorious, 



SAVING THE LITTLE FOLKS. 3*79 

that children should be placed in the arms of the Saviour 
at the first dawnings of infantile life. 

Mother. Sir, am I to understand you to mean by these 
expressions, that all children can be so indoctrinated in 
truth and love, as little Samuel was, or as John the Bap- 
tist, who greio up in the Lord, without permitting Satan to 
find any permanent lodgment in their hearts ? 

Pastor. Exactly so. What absurdity is there in sup- 
posing that children are to grow up in Christ ? Why 
should the enemy of all good — the old Serpent, the Devil, 
the father of lies — be permitted to enter into the hearts of 
our little babes, and dwell there with his hellish crew of evil 
passions, till the whole being is saturated with " the lust 
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life ?" 

Mother. It is commonly assumed, if I mistake not, that 
children are to grow up in sin, and to be converted to God 
in after-life. 

Pastor. I know it, sister, but is this of God ? What 
system of education is more baneful, soul-ruinous than this, 
that a child is to reject God and all holy principles till he 
arrives at mature age ? Whence the doctrine that children 
must first give their hearts to work wickedness with greedi- 
ness, drink in iniquity as the ox drinketh in water — some 
four, six, eight, or ten years before bowing to King Jesus, 
form habits of evil-doing that are more difficult to eradi- 
cate than for the Ethiopian to change his skin or the leopard 
his spots ? 

Mother. You remember when parents brought their lit- 
tle ones to Jesus that he should take them to his bosom, 
lay his hands upon them, and bless them, his own disciples 
rebuked these same parents for so doing ; but the blessed 
Saviour replied, " Suffer the little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven," 



380 SAVING THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

Pastor. I do, and the same cruel unbelief is abroad in 
all the land. Tell parents it is their duty and privilege to 
train their offspring unreservedly Godward from, the first 
dawning of moral accountability, what will be the answer? 
" If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this 
thing be ?" 2 Kings., vii. 2. 

Mother. I begin to see wherein I have erred, and why 
it is we are so often deficient in Christian character ; it is 
this : our religion begins so late in life, we are compelled 
to maintain a perpetual and unequal warfare with old 
habits. To make a graceful and complete Christian char- 
acter, it need itself to be the habit of existence ; not a grape 
grafted on a bramble ; and this requires a Christian child- 
hood in the subject. 

Pastor. You have hit the nail, sister. Horace Bush- 
ness, in his excellent treatise on " Christian Nature," says : 
" What authority have you from the Scriptures to tell your 
child, or by any sign to show him, that you do not expect 
him truly to love and obey God till after he has spent 
whole years in hatred and wrong ? What authority is 
there to make him feel that he is the most privileged of all 
human beings, capable of sin, but incapable of repentance ; 
old enough to resist all good, but too young to receive any 
good whatever ? Wherein would it be less incongruous for 
you to teach your child that he is to lie and steal, go the 
whole round of vices, and then after he comes to mature 
age, reform his conduct by the rules of virtue ?" 

Mother. Pastor, another query arises, it is this : sup- 
pose our little ones do grow up uniformly in the Lord 
through our obedience in training, and the holy atmosphere 
in which they are surrounded ; not knowing the precise 
time when the spiritual change takes place, from nature to 
grace, is it not almost certain they relapse, lose the holy 



SAVING THE LITTLE FOLKS. 381 

unction, fall into temptation, sip of the muddy streams of 
sensuality, do things utterly subversive of gospel purity 
and simplicity ? 

Pastor. " Happy is the man that feareth always." Dan- 
ger is on every side. There is no safety or security for lit- 
tle folks or great folks, save on the wing of love and mercy, 
following on to know the Lord, rising higher and higher, 
shining brighter and brighter to the perfect day. It is 
faith now, prayer now and forever. It is doing good now, 
it is doing good forever. What I say unto one, I say un- 
to all — Watch — WATCH ! Meanwhile, let me assure you, 
beloved sister, there is far less danger of departing from 
the living God, in the cases referred to, than of those who 
are converted in after-life, and whose habits of sin are deep- 
ly rooted. Let the lambs of Jesus be carried in the bosom 
of fathers and mothers, grow in grace constantly, add to 
their faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godli- 
ness, brotherly kindness, charity, all that is true, honest, 
just, pure, lovely, and of good report. One such " will 
chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight." 



EARLY CONVERSIONS. 



"The Karen mothers," says Mrs. Vinton, "dedicate 
their infants to their idol gods, early, zealously, and scru- 
pulously. After the conversion of these heathen mothers, 
they are no less zealous for the salvation of their children. 
They cease not,' day nor night, till God hears their cry, 
and often their little ones are brought savingly to the 
knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus." 

Is not this a voice of thunder to us ? Yerily, will not 
these heathen rise in judgment to our condemnation ? 



382 




LOOK! SEE THIS BOY WIPING HIS EYE! DOWNCAST? 



What's the matter? Bad, is he? How otherwise? 
And for his badness he has just now been receiving reproof, 
the word of chastisement. And of what mischievousness, 
self-will, or disobedience he is guilty we know not. Such 
a boy give his parents trouble ? No end to it ; and this 
trouble will go on and on, and may-be bring down their 
gray hairs to the grave prematurely, sorrowing! 

The evil stop here ? Nay ; if this bad boy is permitted to 
live, who knows how many other boys and girls he may 
corrupt, lead the downward road to jjerdition ! " One sinner 
destroyeth much good." " Behold how great a matter a 
little fire kindleth." 

Parent, did you do your duty to this wayAvard son from 
the outset — lend him to the Lord forever^ as Hannah did 
little Samuel, ere he saw the sunbeams of opening day 



SEE THIS BOY VVIPIXG HIS EYE ! 383 

shiuiiig brightly ? And did you keep on dedicating, every 
day, every hour, presenting his little body a living sacri- 
fice, holy and acceptable to the Lord, as a reasonable 
service ? 

Was the family altar kept burning brightly around him 
night and morning ? Was your daily walk like that of 
Zachariah and Elizabeth. (Luke, i. 6.) Was the atmos- 
phere in the nursery and the parlor pure as heaven, angel- 
ically ? Was " Holiness to the Lord" written in golden 
capitals on your door-posts and your gates? Were the 
Holy Scriptures searched daily to know and do the whole 
will of God in family training ? 

Did you see that the least and last remains of evil temper 
in this son of yours was perfectly subdued, made lamb-like, 
and kept so ? Were you conscientiously scrupulous to 
keep him from bad folks, little and big, in the street- 
school, and from every contaminating influence at home 
and abroad ? Did you avoid, as a serpent or the deadly 
adder's sting, the light, the frivolous, the nonsensical from 
the press, and supply him with such reading-matter, and 
only such, as tends to elevation and purification ? Were 
habits of industry and sobriety inculcated at the earliest 
possible moment, and kept on and on., assiduously, unremit- 
tingly ? 

Finally, did you make salvation the first, the midst, the 
last, the unreservedly evermore ? Alas ! had you indeed 
obeyed God in training this son in the way he should go, 
what a blessing unspeakable to you, to the child, the 
world ! 

'• Joy for the precious seed that springs 

In fields which God, the Lord, has bless'd ; 
Joy for the sower, Avhen he sings 
On the bright hills of heavenly rest." 



384 
HONORINa FATHER AND MOTHER. 

A WORD TO THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

" Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which 
the Lord thy God giveth thee.'''' Exodus, xx. 12. 

Yery few sins are greater than disobedience to parents. 
God eyes this iniquity with fearful and special judgments ! 
We should be unwilling to trust or employ boys or girls 
who were disobedient to their parents. We never knew 
an impudent, disobedient urchin turn out well. The curse 
of God rests upon him. 

"Whoever makes his parent's heart to bleed, 
Shall have a child that will avenge the deed." 

One thing is certain — an undutiful son and a disobedient 
daughter cannot long prosper. For a season they may ap- 
pear well to the eye of the stranger ; but their self-will and 
stubbornness are soon discovered, and they are despised. 
A child who abuses his parents will not hesitate to abuse 
anybody. Neither age nor talents receive respect from 
him. 

The command, "Honor thy father and thy mother," is 
founded upon an immutable law, most imperiously de- 
manded in social and domestic life. The reward of filial 
obedience is very great. It is a beautiful sight to see 
feeble old age reclining upon the bosom of manhood and 
youth, and the picture is doubly enchanting when youth 
and manhood cherish their trust with a filial and patient 
regard. 

Young man, if you would plant thorns by the side of your 
future pathway ; if you would be haunted amid the groves 
and retreats of maturer life with the most fearful spectres, 
treat with coldness and indifference those who gave you 



HONORING FATHER AND MOTHER. 385 

birth, and nurtured so carefully your helpless infancy. 
Young woman, if you would drink the bitter dregs of the 
cup of retributive justice, disregard the wishes and happi- 
ness of your own best and dearest friend, your mother. 

It will be a sweet reflection, when we stand by a parent's 
grave and drop there a tear of tender sympathy, to feel the 
certain consciousness that we have never planted a thorn 
in their bosoms, that we have never made their joy less, 
while on earth, by one act of disobedience. But if, on the 
other hand, we have disregarded parental counsel and have 
despised parental reproof, the tears that we shed by the 
parent's tomb will be most sadly mingled with remorse 
and grief. 

" Honor thy parents : those that gave thee birth, 
And watched, in tenderness, thine earliest days, 
And trained thee up in youth, and loved in all. 
Honor, obey, and love them ; it shall fill 
Their souls with holy joy, and shall bring down 
God's richest blessing on thee ; and in days 
To come thy children, if they are given. 
Shall honor thee, and fill thy life with peace." 



CHILDREN, LOVE YOUR MOTHER. 

" Dearest children, love your mother ; 
Look upon her care-worn brow ; 
She has been so faithful to you — 

Oh ! how can you grieve her now ? 
Always pray for her, dear children, 
When before your Lord you bow." 
17 



386 



MYSTERY ON MYSTERY, THE MYSTERY OF ALL MYS- 
TERIES ! 

" How can ye ! While the cause ye nurse, 
Which madness, crime, and misery hrings ; 
How can ye dry the river's course, • 
Unless you stop its rising springs ?" 

It is mystery from first to last. It begins in mystery, 
continues in mystery, ends in mystery ; and doubtless it 
will be forever a mystery, both to men and angels. Mys- 
teries never cease. There always have been mysteries, and 
doubtless there always will be mysteries, while time exists 
and eternity rolls on ! There are mysteries in nature, 
in science, in religion, in things temporal, and in things 
spiritual ; mysteries in heaven, and mysteries on earth. 

And yet, amid all the mysteries above and below, in 
heaven and in hell, in time and in eternity, we know of no 
mystery so great and so mysterious a mystery as the one 
under consideration, viz., that a parent, a teacher in Israel, 
a watchman on the walls of Zion, professing to take the 
word of God, the gospel of Jesus for his rule of life, and 
yet, having children growing up around him, impenitent, 
unholy, on the road to ruin ! 

Here the mystery of all mysteries begins. His children 
sit with him at the festive board, encircle the fireside, the 
family altar daily, lie down and rise up, go out and come 
in, do this and do that, hopeless of heaven, destitute of 
saving grace, the fear and love of God, heedless of the blood 
shed on Calvary ! Is his own house on fire and his chil- 
dren exposed to the flames — what the outcry? "Fire,^^re.^ 
FIRE ! !" And yet he sits down and rises up, goes out and 
comes in with comparative ease, quietness, and composure, 
from year to year, while his dear ones are on the verge of 



MYSTERY OX MYSTERY. 387 

hell-fire momentarily. Is not here a mystery that caps 
the climax of all mysteries ? 

He confesses his sons and daughters are unsaved, out of 
Christ, without God in the world. What now — does he 
seem to realize that he is responsible for their penitence, 
their salvation, and if lost forever, the blood of their souls 
is on his skirts ? Not a wink of' the eye of concern or re- 
sponsibility is exhibited. State to him kindly the binding 
duties of parents, what God enjoins in his blessed word, 
the terrible judgments that surely accompany parental de- 
linquency, the sin of omission in household training, point 
him to Jacob, Eli, David and others, what fearful things, 
heartrending, rested on them and continued from genera- 
tion to generation, because their sons were vile and they 
restrained them not. 

Place your finger, also, on the fiery indignation, the curse 
of the Almighty, from the days of Eli till now, that have 
rested and iHll rest on every parent who does not obey 
God in bringing up his children in the nurture and admo- 
nition of the Xord. What now — any signs of life ? " Dead, 
twice dead, plucked up by the roots." 

Nor does he appear to consider in the least how greatly 
God is dishonored in this sin of omission, and how vastly 
his own usefulness is curtailed, and the indelible stain of 
reproach constantly accumulating while 'treading under foot 
those positive precepts, " Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
JProv. xxii. 6. 

' "If any provide not for his own, and especially for 
those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is 
worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. v. 8. See, also, Deut. vi. 
6. : Prov. xxix. 15-17. 



388 




SEE THIS FATHER AND LITTLE DAUGHTER? 



What is father doing — teaching his little daughter the 
way of life, through Jesus? He points up toward heaven. 
What's that for ? To impress more deeply the word of 
life, and to direct the attention to God, who, though 
far above all heavens, is here, everywhere. He knows 
our every thought. Besides God's eyes, are there not 
other eyes beholding ? The world is full of eyes and 
ears, on every side ; on the right and on the left, eyes 
innumerable, ten thoiisand times ten thousand. Eyes 
above, eyes below, here, there, everywhere. Step — move 
a single inch without the gaze of some eyes — the eyes of 
Omniscience, of angels, of spirits seen and unseen, the eyes 
of heaven, the eyes of earth. Nature herself, is full of eyes 
and ears. The earth sees, hears, and speaks. The starry 
heavens, the moving planets, the thunder's crash, the light- 
ning's flash, the trees, the little hills, the glowing streams, 
the mountain-tops, the flowers of the fields, the merry song- 
sters, the fowls of the air, the fish of the sea — all have eyes, 
ears, or tongues. The buzzing insects, the creeping things, 



THE FATHER AXD LITTLE DAUGHTER. 389 

the whistling winds, the gentle zephyrs, all see, hear, or 
speak more or less. Great folks, believe this, little folks 
do you ? 

Our thoughts, words, actions, are scanned when we sleep, 
when we wake, move, and have our being. Eyes are upon 
us constantly ; 'round us, over us, beneath us. Everything 
is full of eyes and ears. When we least think of it, eyes are 
gazing upon us, by the wayside, in our silent walks, at home 
and abroad, in our domestic retreats, in the social circle, in 
places of worship, in our daily avocations and business 
transactions, in offices of emolument and responsibility, in 
our journeyings by sea or by land, in the car, the steam- 
boat, the stage-coach, eagle eyes are wide open watching 
every movement, motive, and secret thought. 

Young readers, are you aware how closely you are eyed 
everywhere, by night and by day ? Do you realize how 
intently and minutely these innumerable eyes are fixed oh 
you ? What is the conclusion ? Any practical results 
from these heart-searching, innumerable eyes, inspecting and 
penetrating every thought, word, and deed ? You are 
searched without and within. Your down-sittings and up- 
risings are known, your thoughts afar off. Your path is 
compassed on every side, your lying down, and your rising 
up. There is not a word on your tongue that is not known 
altogether. "THOU. GOD, SEEST ME." What is the 
moral conclusion — the practical ? 

" Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so 
great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and 
the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with 
patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the au- 
thor and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set 
before him, endured the cross despising the shame, and is 
set down on the riojht hand of the throne of God." 



390 




MORE LITTLE FOLKS AND BUSY FOLKS. 

We keep having little folks and busy folks all the time, 
and expect to have them as long as we live — the more the 
better; and when we go up where Jesus is and spirits 
glorified, we shall see there more little folks than big folks, 
a great deal. Millions on millions of the littlest of the 



MOKE LITTLE FOLKS AND BUSY FOLKS. 391 

little have been washed white in the atoning blood of the 
JLamb, and are now tuning their golden harps around the 
throne of God melodiously. 

And one special object of this book, " Apples of Gold in 
Pictures of Silver," is to enlist as many little folks and big 
folks as we possibly can on the side of Jesus. Moreover, 
it's our heart's desire and prayer to God, that multitudes, 
which no man can number, may be led to seek the Lord, 
and be saved through reading this pictorial volume, even 
after we are gone, lie sleeping in yonder cemetery. 

Happy meeting, glorious, won't it be, when both the 
writer and the readers, the little ones and the big ones, 
meet face to face in the kingdom above, where parting will 
be no more, and " where the wicked cease from troubling 
and the weary are at rest ?" 

Love you, little folks ? Yes we do ; and the more you 
imitate Jesus, walk in newness of life, the more we love 
you, and say, 

" God bless little children ! 

Day by day, 
With pure and simple wiles, 
And winning words and smiles, 
They creep into the heart : 

And who would wish to say them nay ?" 



PARTING WITH LOVED ONES. 

" When forced to part from those we love, 

Though sure to meet to-morrow. 
We yet a kind of anguish prove, 

And feel a touch of sorrow. 
But, oh ! what words can paint the tears, 

When from those friends we sever. 
Perhaps to part for months — for years — 

Perhaps to part forever !" 



392 



LITTLE FOLKS LEARNING TO WALK, 

" Only beginning the journey, 
Many a mile is to go ; 
Little feet are to patter, 
Wandering to and fro. 

" Trying again so bravely, 
Laughing in baby glee, 
Hiding its face in mother's lap. 
Proud as a baby can be. 

" Talking the oddest language 
Ever before was heard ; 
But mother — you'd hardly think so — • 
Understands every word. 

" Tottering now, and falling — 
Eyes that are going to cry ; 
Kisses and plenty ©f love-words, 
Willing again to try. 

" Father of all ! oh, guide them. 
The- jDattering little feet, 
While they are treading the up-hill road, 
Braving the dust and heat. 

" Aid them when they grow weary. 
Keep them in pathways blest ; 
And when the journey's ended. 
Saviour ! oh, give them rest." 



" Youthful hearts may be the temple 
For the Spirit's dwelling-place. 
Childhood's lips declare the riches 
Of God's all-abounding grace." 



393 



HOME LIFE. 

Parent, do you make home pleasant, delightful, joy- 
ous, that the little ones may love it, be happy and joyful 
therein ? The hands of children must be kept busy ; they 
will be busy as bees. God made them to be busy. 

'* How doth the little busy bee 
Improve each shining hour V 

And if you, parent, do not find something good, profit- 
able, praiseworthy to busy their tiny hands, rest assured, 
Satan will. He stands ready to preoccupy ; will you let 
him? Home life must be well ordered, furnished for the 
busy folks, according to age and varied capacities. When 
big enough, slates may be* furnished for childish amuse- 
ments, pencils, drawing materials, and things that will be 
useful in after-life. 

As they advance in years, select choice readings ; books 
and papers that interest, tend to enlightenment, edification, 
virtuous purity, salvation. Let them read these beautiful 
things, " Apples of gold in pictures of. silver," to each 
other interchangeably ; commit to memory, also, psalms and 
hymns for songs of praise. Have them sing together ; sing 
with them ; let their little harps be tuned melodiously at 
suitable times, all the day, and at eventide, making sweet 
melody in the heart to the Lord. 

" Oh, could we hear those good old songs— 
The songs our mothers sung, 
As round the fire her loved ones sat 
In days when we were young !'■' 

Keep the children busy in something useful ; place them 
in the garden of fruits and flowers; let boys and girls 

17* 



394 HOME LIFE. 

work together — both need out-door work, while the eye of 
the parent dn-ects, watches every movement. 

The garden is woman's sphere, a natural theatre for her 
tastes, a remedy for half her ills. It's her academy, gym- 
nasium, school of beauty. Here are the graces, one with her 
rose in her hand, and another with her branch of myrtle. 
In their society she breathes the fragrant morning air, and 
rests at noon in the shade of the vine which her own fingers 
have trained. Keep the little folks busy ; begin early and 
educate both sexes to active, useful, virtuous employment. 
Commence the very onotnent they are able to use the im- 
plements of husbandry, mechanism, horticulture, or kitchen 
utensils. They soon love these useful callings — delight in 
them. It's recreation, amusement, life, joy, if early taught 
to know God's requirements in .opposition to the vain, tri- 
fling, wicked things in which many children spend their 
precious, golden moments, to their own destruction. The 
wise, judicious parent begins at the first daion of moral 
accountability, to inculcate in the minds and hearts of 
his little ones habits of virtuous industry, diligence in bus- 
iness. 

All nature is alive, active, on the wing ; the sun, the 
moon, the sparkling heavens, the rippling brooks, and flow- 
ing founts ; the birds warble on every tree, in ecstasy of 
joy ; the tiny flower, hidden from all eyes, sends forth its 
fragrance of full happiness ; the mountain-stream dashes 
along with a sparkle and murmur of pure delight. The 
object of their creation is accomplished, and their life 
gushes forth in harmonic work. 

Oh plant ! oh stream ! worthy of admiration to the 
wretched idler ! 



395 

THE LITTLE BOY THAT LOVED TO RISE EARLY. 

" I LOYE to rise at early day, 
While all is hush'd and still, 
And hear my Saviour kindly say, 
' Come, ask me what ye will.' 

" I love to search his holy law, 
To hear his words of love, 
And feel his Spirit sweetly draw 
My sonl to ' things above.' 

" I love to ask, by faith and prayer. 
His Spirit's guiding ray — 
Through every scene of anxious care, 
Through Life's bewilder'd way. 

" Thus let me spend each rising hour. 
Thus close my latest days. 
Till I shall wake, to sleep no more, 
Where prayer is changed to praise." 



JESUS LOVES LITTLE FOLKS, 

" Does he love me every day ? 
When I sleep and when I pray ? 
Does he give me all my food ? 
Blessed Jesus, oh, how good I 

" Love me, Jesus, every day ; 
Take my sinful heart away ; 
Make me happy when I die ; 
Then an angel in the sky." 



396 




HAPPY? THE LITTLEST AND THE BIGGEST? 



Who doubts it ? Look at them, little readers, is there 
a single jar of discord here, the least frown of discontent 
exhibited on the face of one of these children ? Does not 
each one wear a glowing smile of cheerfulness ? What 
makes them happy — the love of Jesus in the soul, ruling 



and reigning ? 



" Love is the little golden clasp 
That bindeth up the trust ; 
Oh, break it not ; lest all the leaves 
Shall scatter and be lost." 



THE HAPPY CHILDREN. 397 

Little girls and boys, have you any brothers or sisters ? 
If you have, love them a great deal^ for you do not know 
how long you may be together. And even if you should 
live to be old men and women, do you not think it would 
make you very happy to remember when you were chil- 
dren you never quarrelled ? And if you have lost a darling 
little brother, or a gentle, loving sister, there is nothing 
that makes you feel so sad as that sometimes you were 
unkind and angry. 

" Children, do you love each other ? 
Are yoa always kind and true ? 
Do you always do to others 
As j'ou'd have them do to yoji ?" 

We heard of a brother and sister who loved one another 
very much. He was the older, and was taken ill and died. 
They laid him out on his own little bed, and his mother 
took his little sister to look at him. I cannot tell what she 
felt and thought as she stood and looked at his sweet face, 
as white and cold as marble; but she wept very much. 
At last she said : 

" Mother, may I take hold of his hand ?" 

After a little time she placed it in hers, when the dear 
child, lifting it up and stroking it gently, said : 

" This little hand never struck me !" 

Oh, how pleased she was to think of that ! " Little 
children, love one another." 



" Little children, love each other 
Never give another pain. 
If your brother speak in anger. 
Answer not in wrath aQ:ain." 



398 



BIG THINGS AND LITTLE THINGS. 

It was a smile, simply a smile on the face of a friend, 
that made my heart beat lighter and forget its load of care. 
It was a little flower, a pale forget-me-not ; at another time 
a tiny, sweet rose-bud, that cousin gave me ; little things 
they were, but they formed new links in the chain of love 
between us, for the simple reason that she knew I loved such 
things, and because she knew I loved them, she had saved 
them for me. 

I dropped my spool of thread, and a perfect stranger, 
who was sitting near, as busily engaged as myself, rose 
from her seat, picked it up and returned it to me. If every 
one were as kind there would be few cross words. 

I was sick, and many were the little deeds of love kind 
friends showered upon me. Sister Etta brought me books 
and pictures ; sister Delia hung my room with green bushes ; 
darling Ray brought me a whole tumbler-full of bright 
dandelions, and being an offering of love from little hands 
I prized them accordingly. Brother came to my room of- 
ten and asked, " How is sister ?" with love in his voice. 
Father smoothed my tumbled hair, and told me to be pa- 
tient and trust in God. Mother never left me for the night 
without imprinting a kiss on my forehead. And these were 
only the little things, still they bound my heart with 
stronger cords of love to those dear ones. 

I was almost discouraged in regard to an effort I had 
been making, and was on the point of giving up. A kind 
friend gave me words of encouragement, and oh, how the 
waves of gratitude surged around my heart ! Words were 
inadequate to express my thanks for that encouragement. 

Oh, the blessedness of making happy ! and how easy 
and how quick it may be done ! 



BIG THINGS AND LITTLE THINGS. 399 

" When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to 
make the day a happy one to a fellow-creature. It is easily 
done ; a left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind 
word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the 
striving, trifles in themselves light as air, will do it, at. least 
for the twenty-four hours. And if you are young, depend 
upon it, it will tell when • you are old ; and if you are old, 
rest assured it will send you gently and haj)pily down the 
stream of time to eternity. By the most simple arithmet- 
ical sum, look at the result. If you send one person, only 
one, happily through the day, that is three hundred and 
sixty-five in the course of a year. And supposing you live 
forty years only after you commence, you have made 
14,600 beings happy, for a time at least. 

" A word of kindness is seldom spoken in vain. It is a 
seed which, even when dropped by chance, springs up a 
flower. 

" Beautiful faces, they that wear 

The light of a pleasant spirit there, 

It matters little if dark or fair. 

" Beautiful hands are they that do 
The work of the noble, good, and true, 
Busy for them the long day through. 

" Beautiful feet are they that go 
Swiftly to lighten another's woe. 
Through summer's heat and winter's snow. 

"Beautiful children, if rich or poor. 
Who walk the pathway sweet and pure 
That leads to the mansions strong and sure." 



400 



THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF MOTHERS. 

Let a mother approve of her child's conduct whenever 
she can. Let her show that his good behavior makes her 
sincerely happy. Let her reward him for his efforts to 
please, by smiles and affection. In this way she will cher- 
ish in her child's heart some of the noblest and most 
desirable feelings of our nature. She will cultivate in him 
a lovely and amiable disposition and a cheerful spirit. 
Your child has been very pleasing and obedient through 
the day. Just before putting him to sleep for the night, 
you take his hand and say : 

" My son, you have been very good to-day. It makes 
me very happy to see you so kind and obedient. God loves 
children who are dutiful to their parents, and he promises 
to make them happy." 

This approbation from his mother is to him a great re- 
ward. And when, with a more than ordinarily affectionate 
tone, you say, " Good-night, my dear son," he leaves the 
room with his little eyes full of feeling. And when he 
closes his eyes for sleep he is happy, and resolves that he 
will always try to do his duty. 

" Then deem it not an idle thing, 
A pleasant word to speak : 
The face you wear, the thoughts you bring, 
A heart may heal or break." 



GOOD-NIGHT, LOVE. 

" Good-night is but a little word, 
Yet beautiful though brief. 
And falls upon the gentle heart 
Like dew upon the leaf." 



401 




SEE THIS WOMAN WITH A LAMP, LITTLE FOLKS? 

La:mps in ancient times were cliiFerent from ours. The 
lamp held in the hand of this woman is similar, doubtless, 
to the lamps of the ten virgins mentioned in the 25th of 
Matthew. Five were wise and five were foolish. The fool- 
ish ones took their lamps, but no oil (no grace). Is it not 
so at the present day ? Do not very many little folks and 
great folks profess religion, say they love Jesus and do not 
the things he tells them ? " He that loveth me, keepeth 
my commandments." "By their fruits ye shall know 
them." How will it be, think you, with the false professors 
when the Bridegroom cometh ? As it was with the foolish 
virgins that came after the door was shut, saying, " Lord, 
Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Yerily I say 
unto you, I know you not." 



402 



AN OLD MAID? WHAT HARM? 

Suppose she is a single lady — who has a better right ? 
Who presumes to impugn her motives for choosing cel- 
ibacy ? 

What class of females are more worthy of all praise 
for their benevolence, self-sacrifice, entireness in God's 
service ? 

What inconsiderate marriao;es there are ! What thou- 
sands rush to the altar of Hymen without the least concep- 
tion of the responsibilities which the act imposes — without 
any thought of the gushing and beautiful love which is 
the soul of true marriage, and out of which connubial hap- 
piness springs as naturally as a flower from the bosom of 
earth ! 

How many, alas ! are trained to think and talk of mar- 
riage in a manner utterly frivolous : that if a woman is not 
married, it is because she is not attractive ; that to be un- 
attractive to men is the most dismal and dreadful misfor- 
tune ; and that for an unmarried woman earth has no honor 
and no happiness, but only toleration and a mitigated or 
unmitigated contempt. 

What is the burden of the song that is sung to girls and 
women ? Are they counselled to be active, self-helping, 
self-reliant, alert, ingenious, energetic, aggressive ? Are 
they braced and toned up to solve for themselves the prob- 
lems of life, to meet its ills undaunted and its happiness 
unbewildered ? Such a thing is seldom heard of It is 
woman's rights ! It is strong-minded ! It is discontent- 
ment with your sphere ! It is masculine! Milton and St. 
Paul to the rescue ! 

" For contemplation he, and valor form'd ; 
For softness she, and sweet, attractive grace." 



AN OLD MAID ? WHAT HARM ? 403 

Marry ? Suppose you don't — what then ? Is your life a 
blank, your usefulness at an end ? Have you the ornament 
of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of 
great price ? Female piety ! what more lovely, beautiful, 
graceful, powerful ? What robe so rich, so white, so be- 
coming, so enchanting as the robe of righteousness ? It is 
the grace of graces, the heart of hearts — more precious than 
rubies. It is the gem of all others which enriches the cor- 
onet of a lady's character. 

For single blessedness in faith and love, purity of 
thought, word, and action, instance Hannah More, name 
ever dear, the very sound of which enkindles delightful and 
holy emotions. What elevated strains of devotion flowed 
ii'om her angelic heart ! Her whole life was one of eminent 
usefulness. Her sun set full of glory ! Though dead, she 
yet speaks. 

Marry through fear of being called an " old maid ?" 
Never ! Show that you have independence enough to bear 
the laugh of the small and narrow-minded. Better, far 
better to live alone in some humble cottage, with no com- 
panions but the trees and stars, the birds, and streams, 
and flowers, than to be united for life to one whom you 
cannot love and respect. From our heart of hearts we 
pity many married people whom we have seen. There are 
those we know who are very happy ; but others (God only 
knows how many) there are who scarcely know the mean- 
ing of the word. 

The pupils of Mary Lyon remember her happy face, her 
loving heart and- gentle words ; and the good that she ac- 
complished eternity only will reveal. We may not do as 
much as she has done ; but a good, great, and happy work 
is for us all, if with willing hearts we enter upon it. Let 
us, then, sisters, go forward into the future without dread. 



404 



OLD BACHELORS! OH! OH! 

A FEiEND at our elbow inquires what is to be done with 
those who practically reject marriage ; and whether that 
class of persons who are familiarly called " Old bachelors," 
are to be regarded as the friends or the enemies of the 
human race ? 

In reply to this well-meant interrogation, it is proper to 
say that it is not the part of wisdom to condemn or to 
judge persons in the mass. There may be men who would 
quickly and gladly adjust themselves to this fundamental 
relation of life, if they were not prevented by the unavoid- 
able necessities of their condition. But with those men 
who do not marry because they are too indolent to support 
a family, or because they have no just appreciation of wo- 
man, we have but little patience. We could say with Soc- 
rates, " I would beat them, were I not angry." 

" And the Lord God said. It is not good that the man 
should, be alone : I will make a helpmeet for him." 

"Whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, and ob- 
taineth favor of the Lord." Prov. xviii. 22. 

" Domestic happiness ! thou only bliss 
Of paradise that has survived the fall ! 
Happy they ! the happiest of their kind. 
Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their being blend." 



" Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain : but a woman 
that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." Prov. xxxi. 
29, 30. 



405 




IDOLATRY. 



Children, what does this picture represent — can you 
guess ? Idolatry ! That's it. See that idol temple in the 
grove, and those images ? 

What are you doing, little readers, to send the gospel to 
the millions sitting in darkness and in the region and 
shadow of death ? 



"Shall we, -whose souls are lighted 
With wisclom from on high, 
Shall we to men henighted 
The lamp of life deny ?" 



Do you know how many heathen there are who have 
never heard of a Saviour who died on Calvary to save 
sinners ? About 600,000,000 of the human race. Are those 



all who worship idols ? Look and see — cast 
abroad in our own favored land of gospel light. 



your eyes 
Covetous- 



406 IDOLATRY. 

ness is idolatry ; the placing our affections unduly on any 
earthly object. 

Look at that mother with her sweet little babe ? does 
she love it ? she ought dearly — it's a precious gift of Heaven. 
But beware, dear mother, lest the Lord in mercy snatch the 
idol from your fond embrace. 

Little readers, are any of you idolaters ? If you love 
anything more than you love Jesus, you certainly are. No 
matter on what you place your affections inordinately — fa- 
ther, mother, brothers, sisters, fine clothes, houses, furniture, 
pleasurable amusements, little things or great things. 
" Thou shalt have no other gods before me." " Love not 
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any 
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the 
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, 
but is of this world." 1 Johoi, ii. 15, 16. 

" 'Tis to thy sovereign grace I owe 

That I was born on Christian ground. 
Where streams of heavenly mercy flow. 
And words of sweet salvation sound. 

" How do T pity those who dwell 

Where ignorance with darkness reigns ! 
They know no heaven, they fear no hell. 
Those endless joys, those lasting pains." 



" O GIVE thanks unto the Lord, for his mercy endureth 
forever." Psalm cxxxvi. 1. 



407 
THE MARRIAGE TIE. 

1. That, according to the law of marriage, as contained 
in the word of God, there is but one ground of divorce — 
fornication by one of the parties. 

2. That the bond of union is for life. 

3. That no human laws can abrogate or alter Divine laws, 
but especially the law of marriage, because there is spe- 
cific ^prohibition of human interference to separate man and 
wife. 

4. That the only limitation of this prohibition is founded 
on the right of government to punish 

Man and wife are equally concerned to avoid all offences 
of each other in the beginning of their conversation. Every 
little thing can blast an infant blossom ; as the breath of 
the south can shake the little rings of the vine, when first 
they begin to curl like the locks of a new-weaned boy ; but 
when, by age and consolidation, they stiffen into the hard- 
ness of a stem, and have, by the warm embraces of the sun 
and the kisses of heaven, brought forth their clusters, they 
can endure the storms of the north, and the loud noises of 
a tempest, and yet never be broken. So are the early unions 
of an unfixed marriage ; watchful and observant, jealous 
and busy, inquisitive and careful, and apt to take alarm at 
every unkind word. For infirmities do not manifest them- 
selves in the first scenes, but in the succession of a long 
society ; and it is not chance when it appears at first, but it 
is want of love. 



" Let thy fountain be blessed : and rejoice with the wife 
of thy youth. Prov. v. 18. 



408 



LIFE, LIFE WITH THE HUSBAND : LIFE, LIFE WITH 
THE WIFE AT THE MERCY-SEAT. 

" He prayeth well who loveth. well : 
He prayeth best who loveth best." 

Man and wife, do you pray together ? Can you live in 
love without it — in peace, joy, harmony, good-will, mount 
on eagle's wdng, in Elijah's chariot, triumph over sin and 
Satan ? Is it possible you have wisdom, grace on grace, 
equal to the emergencies of the day — gospel fire burning 
brightly in the family, around the table, the fireside, the 
altar of prayer and praise, jnorning, noon, and eventide — 
and more than all, to train the " little folks" exclusively 
for Jesus, heavenward — save you gain spiritual strength re- 
newedly at the mercy-seat unitedly ? Can you speed up- 
ward and onward on wings seraphic, merciful, and gracious 
to the third heavens, keej^ing your garments unspotted 
from the world, except through the medium of special, 
fervent, importunate intercession to the God of all grace 
and glory unitedly ? 

We speak not of closet seasons, telegraphic dispatches, 
ejaculatory breathings, constant, evermore, the upward 
tendency of the soul alive in God, lying down, rising up, 
going out, coming in ; nor of family and social interviews, 
at home and abroad ; but aside from these hallowed scenes 
of Christian fellowship, those of the husband and wife are 
separate, distinct, superadded, exclusive of all other devo- 
tional exercises entirely. And these united, soul-kindling, 
life-giving aspirations of faith and prayer, prayer and faith, 
are unlimited as to frequency, time, and place. Once daily 
they may be, twice, three times, or like the Psalmist, 
" Seven times a day do I praise thee, because of thy right- 
eous judgments." I*sal))i cx'ix. 164. 



409 

HOW TO MAKE THE MARRIED LIFE HAPPY. 

Whex Robert Newton, the Wesley an pulpit orator, mar- 
ried, he and his bride began the married life by retiring 
twice each day to pray with and for each other. This prac- 
tice they kept up, when opportunity served, to the end of 
life. Mark the result ! When an old man, Mr. Newton 
remarked : " In the course of a short time, my wife and I 
shall celebrate the jubilee of our marriage ; and I know not 
that, during the fifty years of our union, an unkind look or 
an unkind word has ever jjassed between us." 

That was certainly a happy married life. What made 
it so ? Did not that hour of daily prayer make the bond 
of peace sd strong that none of the manifold trials of a long 
public life could even strain it ? Had religion been stricken 
from their lives, would not pride, vanity, or passion have 
grown into a power of discord in their hearts ? Did such 
absolute peace ever reign over the married life of any irre- 
ligious pair for half a century, since the fall ? Does it 
reign over the reader's married life ? Is not the religious 
element needed in his married life to render it even tolera- 
ble ? Consider the claims of religion, dear reader, from 
this standpoint, and you will conclude that religion is need- 
ful, not only for your present and eternal happiness, but 
also for your domestic enjoyment. 

The godly husband and the godly wife are true help- 
meets, the one to the other. They belong to the same fam- 
ily, speak the same sweet language, are travelling the same 
happy road, and are journeying to the same blissful home. 

. Finally, to all the dear children of God, we would say, 
marry " only in the Lord." Let his word be your guide, 
your rule, his glory your aim, and he will direct your path 
through life, will sustain you in death, and conduct you 
safely to his heavenly kingdom. 

18 



410 




THIS IS GEEAT SIDON, LITTLE READERS, 

Founded, soon after the Deluge, by Siclon, the son of 
Canaan. (Gen. x. 15-19.) 

The Sidonians built ships, and were the founders of mar- 
itime commerce. The inhabitants are estimated at about 
fifteen thousand, who arc occupied in spinning cotton, 
which, with silk, and boots, shoes, and slippers, form the 
principal articles of their trade. "Any grace?" Not 
much. It incurred the terrible judgments of God for its 
sins. (Ezek. xxviii. 21-24.) Where much is given, much 
is required. " For unto every one that hath shall be given, 
and he shall have abundance : but from him that hath not 
shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast 
ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness : there shall 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth." " If the light that is 
in us be darkness, how great that darkness !" 



411 



THE MARRIED LIFE. 

Deceive not one another in small things nor in great. 
One little lie has, before now, disturbed a whole married 
life. A small cause has often great consequences. Fold 
not the arms together and sit idle. " Laziness is the devil's 
cushion." Do not run much from home. One's own health 
is more worth than gold. Many a marriage begins like 
the rosy morning, and then falls away like a snow-wreath. 
And why ? Because the married pair neglect to be as 
well-pleasing to each other after marriage as before. 

Endeavor always to please one another ; but at the same 
time keep God in your thoughts. Lavish not all your love 
on to-day, for remember that the marriage has its to-mor- 
row, likewise. The married woman is her husband's do- 
mestic faith ; in her hand he must confide house and family, 
intrust her the key of his heart, as well as the key of his 
store-room. His honor and his home are under her keep- 
ing ; his well-being is in her hand. Think of this ! 

And you, husbands, be faithful and good fathers of fami- 
lies. Act so that your wives shall esteem and love you. 

The children grow u]) in a better moral atmosphere, and 
learn to respect their parents as they see them respect each 
other. Many a boy will take advantage of the mother he 
loves, because he sees often the rudeness of his father. 
Intensely he gathers to his bosom the same habits and the 
same thoughts they engender, and in his turn becomes the 
petty tyrant. Only his mother — why should he thank her ! 
father never does. Thus the home becomes the seat of dis- 
order and unhappiness. Ah ! give us the kind glance, the 
happy homestead, the smiling wife, and courteous children 
of the friend who said so pleasantly on the nuptial day, 
" Yes, my dear, with pleasure." 



412 



THE WEAKER VESSEL. 

" Though poor in meaner wealth, kind Heaven 
Two priceless gems to me hath given ; 
Chiefest of all that's worth in life 
Is Heaven's own gift, an angel wife." 

Husband, who is this weaker vessel ? The woman ? 
How so — in body, mind, faith ? In some instances, and 
not a few, females have stronger faith, more enlightened 
wisdom, greater grace, finer perceptibilities of soul, might- 
ier intellects than the lords of creation. Instance the 
mother of Sampson, Deborah the prophetess, and thou- 
sands of others. What, then, is the meaning of " the 
weaker vessel ?" 

The word translated " vessel," in ^e first epistle of Peter, 
means " frame-work" or " fabric." And doubtless the 
apostle means that the husband should treat the wife with 
a considerate attention, because of her finer and feebler 
texture. 

" In delicacy of apprehension, both intellectual and 
moral, and in capacity of passive endurance, woman is 
often superior to man. But she has a feebler corporeal 
frame, and her mental constitution, especially the sensitive 
part of it, is such as to require cautious, kind, and even 
tender treatment. Husbands should have consideration 
for the peculiar privations and sufferings of their wives, 
their anxieties and sorrows, their watchings over sick and 
dying children, and their angel ministrations in seasons 
of affliction." Husbands, 

" Be gentle, for ye little know 
How many trials rise ; 
Although to thee they may be small, 
To her, of giant size." 



413 



THE GOOD HUSBAND. 



" Nothing, said a sweet, smiling, joyful woman, in the 
domestic circle, " adds so much to my happiness as a kind 
word from my husband — a kind look, a kind act. Oh, how 
cheering, after a hard day's toil at the washtub, the wheel, 
the loom, or the hot fire, cooking for the harvest hands, or 
a sleepless night with a sick babe — how cheering is a kind 
word or a sweet kiss and a smile from the husband and 
father ! 

Husbands, if you see defects or things you wish were not 
so, in your good wives, try kindness, and see if that don't 
do them more good than all the unkind words and cross 
looks you ever gave them. 

" I often think," continues this happy wife, " I have the 
best husband in the world. He is good and kind to me in 
sickness and health, in joy and sorrow. We are hapj^ier 
than when we were married — nearly twenty years ago. He 
never scolds me nor brings a long catalogue of complaints ; 
but he comes in from his daily labor in good-humor, with 
a smile on his lips and a sweet kiss for me, and says, " Now 
Susy dear, you have done enough to-day ; put up your 
work." Then he seizes little Nancy with a shower of kisses, 
and we sit side by side and chat in the cool evening 
breeze." What woman in the world wouldn't make such 
a husband a good wife ? 



" The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them : 
but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness.'* 
Prov. xi. 6. 



414 




ii iKiiiiM \iiiiiiiiiiiiPP'j'ii»^ ir^rit III! ii^^s=& - _^ ,;&S^^ i 




FEIGHTEKED FOLKS— FOLKS THAT AKE FRIGHTENED 

Frightened ? Terribly ! We rejoice to see it ; don't 
you, litttle folks ? Sinners ought to be frightened ! They 
will be frightened more than they are now, a great deal. 
Turn to Malachi, iv. 1, and you will see. 

Who are these frightened ones delineated in the picture ? 
Turn to the Book of Daniel, v. 1-6, and the whole scene 
will flash upon you, clear as the noonday sun. 

We wish every sinner, little and big, was frightened 
enough to flee to Jesus, whose arms are opened wide to 
receive them, even though blood-guilty, scarlet-colored ! 

" Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Consider your ways." 
Hag. i. 5. 

Christ says, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if 
any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in 
to him and sup with him, and he with me." 

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved." Acts^ xvi. 31. 



FRIGHTENED FOLKS. 415 

" He is able to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them." Heb. vii. 25. 

• " Jesus, my Lord, thy blood alone 

Hath power sufRcient to atone ; 
Thy blood can make me white as snow, 
No Jewish type could cleanse me so." 

"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." 
JoTin^ vi. 37. 

"Come, now^, let us reason together, saith the Lord : 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as 
snow." Isa. i. 16-18. 

" The Spirit and the Bride say, Come ; and let him that 
heareth say. Come ; and let him that is athirst come ; and 
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." 
Rev. xxii. 17. 

" If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive 
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

" If all the sins which men have done, 
In thought or will, in word or deed, 
Since worlds were made or time begun. 

Were laid on one poor sinner's head, 
The stream of Jesu's precious blood 
Could wash away the dreadful Joad." 



" In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, 
and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of 
the wall of -the king's palace : and the king saw the part 
of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was 
changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints 
of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against 
another." Dan. v. 1-6.. 



416 



THE LOED AISTD THE LITTLE ONES. 

"He shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry 
them in his bosom." These gentle words of prophecy re- 
late to the Lord Jesus ; and in him they were fulfiiled. 
His ways of gentleness and love engaged the hearts of lit- 
tle ones ; and many such believed on him, while reasoning 
and self-righteous men despised his grace, and scorned his 
lowly ways. 

At Capernaum, the disciples asked the Lord, " Who is 
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven ? And Jesus called 
a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 
and said, Verily, I say unto you. Except ye be converted, 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble 
himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the king- 
dom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little 
child in my name, receiveth me. But whoso shall oifend — 
stumble or ensnare — one of these little ones who believe in 
me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged 
about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of 
the sea." 

The original word here rendered " little child," includes 
the idea of a docile one, a little child who believes without 
reasoning, lives in the family without servile work, and with- 
out any anxious care, and is cheerfully submissive and obe- 
dient to parental control. And this is the Lord's own de- 
scription of a person saved by his grace, and who shall 
therefore enter into the kingdom of heaven. An instruc- 
tive instance and illustration of this is seen in the case of a 
little child, called by the grace of God into the knowledge 
and love of Christ, and into conscious salvation and rest 
and peace in him. 

The grace of God bestowed on one such little one, I desire 



THE LORD AND THE LITTLE ONES. 417 

to describe. But let the father of that little child tell the 
truthful tale, in his own way. 

" When my child was about three years old, and while 
speaking to him of the Divine Saviour, I said to him : 
' Johnny, the Lord Jesus came into the world to save sin- 
ners — little sinners like you, as well as big sinners.' He 
looked up and said : ' What is a sinner, papa ?' * You are 
a sinner, Johnny.' * No, I am not ; I don^t know what a 
sinner is.' I described some of his little faults, and remark- 
ed: *Any little boy who does so is a sinner.' With blush- 
ing face and flowing tears he came to me, and hiding his 
face on my knee, sobbed as though his heart would break. 
Laying my hand gently on his head, I asked him with ten- 
derness, what was the cause of his grief ; but he only wept 
more loudly, and clung to me the more. I then asked, 
* Have you found out who is a sinner ?' ' Yes, papa, I am 
a sinner.' ' Then the gospel is good news to you^ Johnny, 
for it tells you of Jesus, the sinner's friend.' It was my 
habit to direct his mind to Christ Jesus aloneP 

" Christ died that you might live ; 
He suffer' d for your sake ; 
And life to you he'll freely give : 
Remember ere too late. 

" He now is calling you to come 
And give your hearts to him ; 
He e'er stands ready to receive, 
And cleanse you from all sin. 

" Come now, while in your youth, 
Before you harder grow ; 
Come now, before it is too late, 
Commence good seed to sow." 
18* 



418 




WHO ARE THESE, PICTURED IK THIS ENGRAVING ? 



Can you tell, little folks ? Old Simeon and the holy 
child Jesus in his arms ? Most assuredly. The Lord 
promised this good old saint that he should not see death 
till he had seen the Lord's Christ. " Then took he him up 
in his arms and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, 
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Luhe^ ii. 28, 29. 
Do you not think good old Simeon had a great deal to say 
about Jesus long before this blessed interview ? And 
should not we talk about Jesus a great deal, since he has 
died for us and risen for our justification? "Unto you, 
therefore, who believe, he is precious." 1 Pet. ii. 7. 

If we take no delight in talking about Jesus now, how 
would it be in heaven ? We hear some little folks and 
great folks tell what a blessed, happy place heaven is. But 
what makes heaven — Jesus ? Nothing short. No Jesus, 
no heaven ; and this heaven begins with Jesus here. 

Why is it, little readers, your souls are not on iire, blaz- 



WHO ARE THESE, PICTUKED IN THIS ENGEAVING ? 419 

iiig out at the mere name of Jesus, that causes all heaven 
to ring hallelujahs, and will continue to ring thus as eter- 
nity rolls on ? 

" No mortal can with him compare 
Among the sons of men ; 
Fairer is he than all the fair 
That fill the heavenly train." 

" If Christ be in you, the hocly is dead because of sin : 
but the spirit is life because of righteousness." 

" Oh, not in vain, when oft we meet 

The record of his love 
To search, does not our Jesus greet, 

And bless us from above ? 
They shall be his, when in that day 

His jewels he shall make, 
Who here may toil life's little way, 

Or speak for Jesus' sake. 

" Oh, not in vain ; then let us sow 

Beside all waters here ; 
At morn, at noon, at eve, we'll go. 

With sweet and holy cheer : 
Though we may here oft reap reward, 

Not till we higher go. 
To be forever with the Lord, 

Fulness of joy we'll know." 



Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree — the 
Saviour of men. What he suffered we can never know ; 
but God laid on him the iniquity of us all, which he will- 
ingly bore to save us from eternal shame and misery. How 
great the gratitude each of us owes such a friend ! 



420 



NOW, NOW, NOW! 

This instant^ ere the sun — the glowing king of day — 
streaks the east. Begin where God begins. Make family 
government the first, the last, the evermore. Stop ? Not 
for worlds ! It is life or death, salvation or damnation, 
heaven or hell ! 

" Business urgent abroad, pressing ? Suppose it a thou- 
sand times more pressing and important than it is, what 
then ? Neglect home duties, the fireside, the present and 
eternal welfare of your children ? Substitute ? No, you 
can't. No one can^ no one should supersede or take the 
place of the parent in preparing young immortals for glory 
everlasting. To you, fathers and mothers, it is given to 
rear the tender thought, bend the little twigs, give life, hope, 
joy, salvation. 

Trust no one. No duties in'the study or out of it, in pub- 
lic or in private, at home or abroad, preaching here, preach- 
ing there, praying here, praying there, exhorting sinners 
to repent, do works meet for repentance, crying aloud, spar- 
ing not, must interfere or take the place of home work, 
the training your household for God. Begin at home ; see 
that perfect order reigns there, that all is clock-work, obe- 
dience, kind, loving, submissive, heavenly, ei-e you cross 
the threshold to go hence to the Gentiles. 

Here many parents mistake — ministers and ministers' 
wives sadly, grievously. Beware that ye rnn not before 
being sent. 

If " our sons are to be as plants grown up in their youth, 
and our daughters as corner-stones polished after the simili- 
tude of a palace," their cultivation must not be left to weak 
or unskilful hands. Fathers must begin early and employ 
their powers and faculties in this work. It cannot safely be 



NOW, NOW, NOW. 421 

delegated to others. Aud for direction in this as in every 
other important undertaking, they must humbly take coun- 
sel from the word of God. Listening to its teachings, they 
hear Jehovah saying of Abraham, " For I know him, that 
he loill command his children and his household after him, 
and they shall do justice and judgment." Abraham com- 
manded. Had he failed to do this, what a scene of do- 
mestic confusion must have attended the journey to Mount 
Moriah ! How must that beautiful picture have been disfig- 
ured in the setting, if not spoiled in the execution, had 
Sarah's son, her only son, the son of her old age, been an 
undisciplined, and consequently a disobedient boy ? 

Fathers, do you command your children, or do they com- 
mand you ? Do you, by timely discipline, nip the first 
shoots of disobedience and rebellion ; or do you allow Sarah 
to rescue Isaac from your arms and pass him over to the 
tender mercies of Hagai*, her maid ? 

Fathers, command your children and your household af- 
ter you to do justice and judgment. Fail to do this, and 
the cars on the " Black Yalley Railroad " will continue to 
be crowded with passengers, all the way through the entire 
route from Tippleton down to Destruction and Perdition. 

It is a great and prevalent error, that children may be 
left to run wild in every sort of company and temptations 
for several years, and that it will be time enough to break 
them in. This mistake makes half our spendthrifts, gam 
biers, thieves, and drunkards. No man would deal so with 
his garden or lot ; no man would raise a colt on such a 
principle. Take notice, parents, unless you till the new 
soil and throw in the good seed, the devil will have a crop 
of poison- weeds before you know what is taking place. 



422 




-===E:=telS 



LITTLE EEADERS, WHO IS THE LITTLEST IN THIS 
PICTURE? 

What's his name — Jesus ? Certainly it is ; he is con- 
versing with the learned doctors, both hearing them and 
asking them questions. Do you know how old Jesus was 
at this time ? Turn to Luke ii., begin at verse 40th, and 
you will see how this child Jesus tarried behind at Jerusa- 
lem after the feast of the Passover, and JosejDh and his 
mother knew it not; and they sought him three days be- 
fore they found him sitting in the midst of the doctors. 
"And when they -saw him, they were amazed: and his 
mother said unto him. Son, why hast thou thus dealt with 
us ? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 
And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me ? 
wist ye not that I must be about ray Father's business ? 
And they understood not the saying which he sj^ake unto 
them. And he went down with them, and came to Naza- 
reth, and was subject unto them : but his mother kept all 
these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom 
and stature, and in favor with God and man." Lukc^ 
ii. 48-52. 



423 



CHRIST A SAVIOUR FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

" Jesus lives ! for us he died : 
Then alone to Jesus living, 
Pure in heart may we abide, 
Glory to our Saviour giving." 

ThijStk of this, little friends, more than all — Jesus died to 
save you, paid the price of your ransom. He is a Saviour 
for little folks as well as for big folks. 

He has saved more than we can number. Unnumbered 
millions of little ones are now tuning their harps around 
the Throne in glory, saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that 
was slain, for thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, 
out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." 
Bev. V. 9. 

The songs of these little ones, saved by grace, will doubt- 
less be less powerful or voluminous than others, but no 
less harmonious, delightful, soul-kindling, soul-ravishing ! 
Many of them were ushered into the portals of glory ere 
they committed actual sin, brought on themselves guilt 
and condemnation, ere their garment's were spotted with 
the flesh. Yet, even these were saved through the atoning 
sacrifice of Jesus; consequently they, likewise, will tune 
their golden harps, sing the song of Moses and the Lamb 
forever — the song of redeeming love. 

Jesus will be the theme for the little folks and the great 
folks, " Jesus, who washed us, made us white in his own 
blood." 

" Praise the Father, praise the Son, 
Who to us new life hath given : 
Praise the Spirit, Three in One, 
All on earth and all in heaven." 

These little songsters, with their golden harps in heaven, 
may be comparatively feeble in songs of praise and adora- 



424 CHKIST A SAVIOUR FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

tion; yet who knows but that they may be among the 
sweetest, the most ecstatic, enchantingly and deliglitfully 
melodious and heavenly when mingled with the songs of 
the greatest and most blood-guilty and scarlet-colored sin- 
ners, whose awful, shameful, and heaven-daring sins have 
been washed away in the blood of the Lamb ? 

" If all the sins which men have done, 

In thought or will, in word or deed, 
Since worlds were made or time begun, 

"Were laid on one poor sinner's head, 
The stream of Jesu's precious blood 
Could wash away the dreadful load." 

"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us ; but unto thy name 
give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." 
Psalm cxv. 1. 

Little folks, you see how it is, w^hat a blessed, compas- 
sionate Jesus we have, what he has done and suffered for 
us, and how much he loves us. Ought we not, therefore, 
be very good, serve him with a perfect heart, walk in all 
his commandments and ordinances blameless ? 



A HYMN FOR. THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

" There is no friend like Jesus, 

So gentle, kind, and true ; 
This Friend is always near us, 

And sees whate'er we do. 
Although he is so mighty, 

The King of heaven above, 
He calls us to his bosom, 

And euards us with his love." 



425 




SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES. 



• What's going on here, think you, little readers ? Teach- 
ing the way to heaven ? It looks like it, don't it ? What 
more beautiful ? Would that the world was full of it ! 
Soon the earth would blossom as the rose. There is a 
right way and a wrong way. " There is a way which seem- 



426 SEAKCHIXG THE SCEIPTUEES. 

eth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of 
death." Prov. xiv. 12. In which way are yoic^ young 
friends, the safe way, " straight and narrow, leading unto 
life eternal, the way the holy prophets went," spoken of 
by Isaiah xxxv. 8 ? " And a highway shall be there, and 
a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness ; the un- 
clean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those : the 
wayfaring men though fools, shall not err therein." 

Is this the way you are in, little folks and great folks ? 
If so, all is right, safe, joyous, glorious ! keep on in this 
way to the end, and you will land safely on Canaan's hap- 
py shore. There are often many ways to go to this place 
and that place, to this city and that city. One may take 
this road or that, this route or that. One may take a 
stage-coach, another the railway, a third the steamboat or 
sailing-vessel. But to heaven, the seat of glory, peace ever- 
lasting, joy inexpressible, there is only one way, the way 
of the cross ; only one sailing-vessel, " the old ship Zion," 
that will take us to the happy land. Are you on this ves- 
sel, little readers ? Have you taken passage on the " old 
ship Zion ?" 

You hear it said frequently, that such and such children 
have been trained " in the way they should go," and after 
all, turn out badly, when, in fact, they have not taken one 
step "in the way they should go." They are in the broad 
road to ruin till they are led to Jesus for a new heart, a 
heart of love, till transformed into Christ's image. " Ex- 
cept a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of 
heaven." If no man or woman can enter the pearly gate 
of glory, till regenerated, " born of water and of the Spirit," 
no more can any little boy or girl. It is just as necessary 
for little folks to be born again, to enter heaven, as it is 
for the big folks. Therefore, when any one says, such 



SEARCHIXG THE SCRIPTURES. 427 

and such persons have been trained for God " in the way 
they should go," then turn to the beggarly elements, the 
flesh-pots of Egypt, the " lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
eyes, and the pride of life," do despite to the word of grace, 
it is false, wicked ; there is not a particle of truth in it. 
Let God be true — as he is — though everybody else is a 
liar. Beware, young readers, lest you be weighed in the 
gospel balance and found wanting ; lest there be a promise 
left you of salvation, and you fall short of it. " Be not de- 
ceived, God is not mocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, 
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, 
shall of the flesh reap corruption : but he that soweth to 
the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting." James ^ vi. 
7,8. 

Jesus says, " I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no 
man cometh to the Father but by me." JoKn^ xiv. 6. 

" For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any- 
thing nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. 

" And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on 
them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." Gal. vi. 
15, 16. 

Parents, think of this, when God commands you to train 
your little ones " in the way they should go," they are as 
far from the right way as heaven is from hell, till regen- 
erated, born of the Spirit and walking in newness of life. 



" He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : and he which 
is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that is righteous 
let him be righteous still : and he that is holy, let him be 
holy still. And, behold, I come quickly." 



428 

LITTLE FOLKS, TROUBLESOME FOLKS? 

Troubled, are you, parent, with the little folks on the 
Lord's day, running hither and thither, engaged in this 
sport and that sport, in this folly and that, this worldly 
amusement and that, in-doors and out ? This day- of holy 
rest is wearisome to them, if restrained. What now — who 
is most in fault, the parents or the children, the little folks 
or the great folks ? Here are parents in trouble ! Hark ! 

" What shall we do with the children on the Lord's day ? 
We do not wish to make it a mere holiday to them. We 
do not desire to make it a gloomy, uncomfortable day, 
* lest they be discouraged.' What then shall we do ?" 

Troubled parents, if your sons and daughters had been 
trained gospelly, in the love and fear of the Holy One, in 
the way they should go, uniformly, would not holy time, 
instead of being wearisome, and a day of gloom, be a day 
of gladness, spiritual joy, a heavenly feast, a day of all the 
rest the best ? Then little hearts and voices would be in 
tuneful praise. 

Troubled with unruly children on the Lord's day ? No 
you won't be, parents, if you obey God in training them 
from their infancy ; train them for Jesus and they will be 
peaceful, happy, joyous, as lambs of the flock, delight in 
spiritual worship, prayer and praise. l!^o wonder some 
children give their parents trouble and vexation of spirit, 
not only on the Lord's day, but every day in the week. 

Disobedience receives its due reward. Children whose 
hearts are richly imbued with the Holy Spirit, as every 
child should be, will have no disposition to engage in sports, 
or in any kind of worldly amusements. Their little souls 
will be on fire for doing good. 

Do your duty on week-days, and your troubles on the 
Lord's day with little folks will cease. 



429 




WHAT ARE THESE LITTLE FOLKS DOING 



Gathering May flowers ? Busy — did you ever see folks 
busier ? So busy, indeed, they have hardly time to think, 
speak, look this way or that way. And yet, you see, they 
do, once in a while, cast an eye to mother, and listen to 
what she says. - That's right, children, always obey your 
mother. 

" Never stand in idleneos, 
In a world like ours ; 
Looking on while others toil, 

Heedless of thy powers." ^ 



430 GATHERING MAY FLOWERS. 

" April showers bring forth May flowers." 

" With smiling face young May doth come, 

Her apron fall of flowers ; 
And oft she's seen to sprinkle them 

With soft and dewy showers : 
She's brought the birds to sing again, 

The bees to hum around ; 
She's filled the air with balminess, 

And carpeted the ground. 

. " I love each spring and summer month, 
• And sigh when they are gone ; 
But most my heart young May doth love, 

And tunes for her the song ; 
For she's; the first of all the months 

To bring the warming showers. 
The song of birds, the hum of bees. 
The scent of lovely flowers." 



THE BEAUTIFUL. 



" The beautiful ! the beautiful ! 
Where do we find it not ? 
It is an all-pervading grace. 
And lighteth every spot. 

" It sparkles on the ocean- wave, 
It glitters on the dew ! 
We see it in the glorious sky. 
And in the flow'ret's hue." 



431 



CHEERFULNESS AT HOME, OR HOPING FOR THE BEST. 

Oh, what a blessed thing is a smiling, heavenly, cheerful- 
ness in little folks and great folks, under the most trying 
and jjainful dispensation of Providence ! It's like " Apples 
of gold in pictures of silver." 

" A happy heart will ever be 
A crown of richest blessing ; 
Life is deprived of half its ills, 

A happy heart possessing ; 
Then who, oh, who Avill troubles bear, 
Nor choose a happy heart to wear ? 

" A cheerful smile will drive away 
Each want so bleak and dreary ; 

'Twill soothe the pangs of sickness, too, 
And cheer the sad and weary ; 

Then who will proudly scorn — oh ! who. 
The good a cheerful smile can do ? 

" A cheerful word will ever be 
A well of pleasure springing, 
Like a joyous spring, all bright and gay, 

Sweet buds and flow'rets bringing ; 
Sweet flowers of Hope — then let, who may, 
A cheering word in kindness say !" 

Don't fret, little folks and great folks, for God has or- 
dained all things that are or will be, and ameng these are 
your troubles. Instead of fretting, " count it all joy when 
ye fall into divers trials," for " tribulation worketh patience ; 
and patience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope 
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed 
abroad in our hearts." 



432 CHEERFULNESS AT HOME. 

Don't fret, for God's providence governs all things. 
Consider the hairs of your head, the fowls of the air, the 
lilies of the field. Thus stay your heart on God, and thou 
shalt be kept in perfect peace. 

* Among parents, calmness, patience, cheerful good-nature, 
are of vital importance. Many a child goes astray, not be- 
cause there is a want of prayer or virtue at home, but sim- 
ply because home lacks sunshine. A child needs smiles as 
much as flowers and sunbeams. Let every father and 
mother, then, be happy, look happy, talk to the little ones 
in such a way as to make them happy. 

In a happy home there will be no fault-finding, no over- 
bearing spirit, no peevishness, no fretfulness ; unkindness 
will not dwell in the heart, or be on the tongue. Oh, the 
tears, the sighs, the wasting of life, and health, and strength, 
and time, of all that is most to be desired in a happy home, 
occasioned merely by unkind words ! The celebrated Mr. 
Wesley remarked that fretting and scolding seemed like 
tearing the flesh from the bones ; and that we have no more 
right to be guilty of this than we have to curse, or swear, 
or steal. In a perfectly happy home all selfishness will be 
removed. Even as " Christ pleased not himself," so the 
members of a happy home will not seek first to please them- 
selves, but to please each other. 

" Hope for the best — there's fortitude in it ; 

Patience will triumph o'er poverty's test. 
Strive, strive for the palm, and you're certain to win it ; 

And if ycto are tried now, why, it's all for the best." 



" The desire of the righteous is only good : but the ex- 
pectation of the wicked is wrath." Prov. xi. 28. 



433 



llif^^ 




THE HAPPY MOTHER TRxVINING LITTLE FOLKS. 



" Of all the spots that heaven has blest, 
The dearest place is home : 
'Tis there the fond heart loves to rest, 

And never loves to roam : 
While love plays round the smiling hearth, 
'Tis heaven's own bliss enjoyed on earth." 
19 



434 

A HAPPY WOMAN MAKING OTHERS HAPPY. 
What spectacle more pleasing does the world afford, 
than a happy woman contented in her sphere, ready at all 
times to benefit her little world by her exertions, and trans- 
forming the briers and thorns of life into roses of paradise 
by the magic of her touch ? There are those who are thus 
happy because they cannot help it ; no misfortunes dampen 
their sweet smiles, and they diffuse a cheerful glow around 
them as they pursue the even tenor of their way. They 
have the secret of contentment, whose value is above the 
philosopher's stone ; for without seeking the baser ex- 
change of gold, which may buy some sort of pleasure, they 
convert everything they touch into joy. What their con- 
dition is, makes no difference. They may be rich or poor, 
high or low, admired or forsaken by the fickle world ; but 
the sparkling fountain of happiness bubbles up in their 
hearts and makes them radiantly beautiful. Though they 
live in a log-cabin, they make it shine with a lustre which 
kings and queens might covet, and they make wealth a 
fountain of blessings to the children of poverty. Happy 
women are the brightest type of humanity, and we cannot 
say how much we owe to them for the progress of the race. 
Would there were enouo;h to 2:0 round and round ! 



THE LITTLE BABY, NEWLY-BORISr. 
*' Another little waif upon the sea of life ; 
Another soul to save amid the toil and strife ; 
Two more little feet to walk the dusty road. 
To choose where two paths meet, the narrow and the broad. 
Two more little hands to work for good or ill ; 
Two more little eyes, another little will ; 
Another heart to love, renewing love again ; 
And so the baby came — a thing of joy and pain." 



4.35 



A POLITE LITTLE BOY. 



He jumijs np directly, when an elderly gentleman or 
lady enters a car, stage, or steamboat, who wants a seat. 
It is precisely so in the sanctuary or in any public gather- 
ing. No matter where this little boy is, he is sure to wear 
a sweet, heavenly smile of courtesy and genuine, gospel 
politeness. It is an honor to his parents ; it shows his 
bringing up, his early training. He honors gray hairs also. 

" Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor 
the face of the old man, and fear thy God. I am the Lord." 
Lev. xix. 32. 

The politeness everywhere shown to ladies, makes a poor 
excuse for the inattention to old age, in steamboats, rail- 
road-cars, hotels, and elsewhere, and it is not an unfrequent 
occurrence to see a man scarcely able to walk, supporting 
himself in a car by the back of a seat, or by a post on a 
steamboat, for lack of the seat which .a strong, young man 
occupies near him. We saw a lady give up her seat to an 
old gentleman once, in such a case, and instantly half a 
dozen chairs were oifered her, by the gentlemen who had 
remained motionless before. Americans know what polite- 
ness is, if they do not practise it. 

The other day we were riding in a crowded railway-car- 
riage. At one of the stations an old man entered and was 
looking for a seat, when a boy, ten or twelve years of age, 
rose up and said, " Take my seat, sir." The offer was ac- 
cepted, and the infirm, old man sat down. 

" Why did you give me your seat ?" he inquired of the 
boy. 

" Because you are old, sir, and I am a boy," was the re- 
ply. The passengers were .very much pleased. For our 
part, we wanted to seize hold of the little fellow, and press 
him to our bosom. 



438 




LOOK HERE, LITTLE FOLKS— WHAT DO YOU SEE ? 

BABIES, BABIES— LITTLE FOLKS AND LITTLE POLKS ? 

Babies here, babies there, little folks here, little folks 
there, heaps on heaps ; and oh ! what a blessing these 
sweet little godsends, trained in heavenly wisdom ! Little 
folks make the world better and happier ? Children trained 
for Jesus are the salt of the earth, lighthouses. The lambs, 
trained up lambs, mild, gentle, loving, in the bosom of re- 
deeming, sanctifying grace, are polished stones, olive-plants, 
roses that bloom all the year, send forth a delicious fra^ 
grance sweeter than the perfumes of Arabia. 



BABIES AND LITTLE FOLKS. 437 

What were this world, what could it be to us without 
the purity, the innocence, the frolicsome happiness, the 
moral sunshine of little children, cheerful as larks, innocent 
as doves ? They are, indeed, the very best fragrance that 
has survived the wreck of Paradise. And we can but pity 
the man who does not so regard them ; nay, we more than 
pity him — wQfear him, too, even as we would 

" The man that hath no music in himself, 
Nor is not moved by concord of sweet sounds," 

Happy the man that hath his quiver full of them, with 
wisdom and grace to make them like Jesus, ornaments, 
bright and shining, " olive-plants around his table." 

" Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee." 
" Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord ; and the fruit of 
the womb is his reward." 



HYMN FOR THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

" When the Saviour's words we read. 
How they stir the inmost mind ; 
How the youthful soul they feed ; 
What new sense of love to find ! 

" How they make us loathe all sin ; 
How to love the good and true ; 
How to cleanse the fount within. 
All his will to know and do ! 

" Blessed Jesus ! sinless, pure, 
Help us all to live as well ; 
Bitter crosses to endure, 

Songs of praise and joy to swell." 



438 



LITTLE FOLKS TALKING ABOUT JESUS. 

Can there j)0ssibly be anything more beautiful? Little 
folks, do you talk about Jesus and with Jesus, lying down, 
rising up, going out, coming in, walking or riding, sitting 
at table morning, noon, and at evening ? Is Jesus tke first 
thing in the morning and the last at night? Do you 
sing about Jesus, pray about Jesus, preach about Jesus ? 
Is Jesus the burden of your soul, the one altogether lovely ? 
When the name of Jesus reaches your^ear, is your soul 
kindled to a flame, on fire joyfully ? Little folks and great 
folks that love Jesus most, talk about him most. With 
whom, young friends, do you like to be with most, and 
talk with most — those you love most ? Certainly ! Well, 
if you love Jesus more than any one else, which you ought, 
will you not be likely to be with him and talk with him 
more than any earthly friend ? 

We had a dear Christian brother that fell asleep in Jesus, 
in our house some few years since. And what think you he 
said just before he left us for heaven ? He said he was bet- 
ter acquainted with Jesus than with anybody else ; there 
was no human being with whom he was so familiar. He 
had been talking with Jesus, about Jesus, and for Jesus, 
every day, and some days ten, twenty, or thirty times, and 
frequently in the silent watches of the night, for some forty 
years. And this frequent conversation with Jesus had been 
growing sweeter and more delightful every day, until it was 
a little heaven on earth to be with Jesus. And now he 
was going to be with him forever, and behold him face to 
face, where parting would be no more. 

This is just the way every one should do, little and big. 
And oh, what blessed company ! Get tired being with Je- 
sus, talking with him, and about him ? Kever, if your 



LITTLE FOLKS TALKIXG ABOUT JESUS. 439 

hoarts are in tune. The more you talk with him and are 
with him, the more you are pleased and delighted, and 
after awhile you will be so completely absorbed in his love, 
that you will not be satisfied out of his presence a single 
moment. It will be talk, talk, night and day, and even 
your dreams will be about Jesus. The love of Jesus will 
be continually flowing out of your heart. And what caps 
the climax of mystery and mercy is, that Jesus is not tired 
of you. He never tells any little boy or girl to cease talk- 
ing with him. His ear is open to every word you say. 

" Oh, yes ! I've heard my mother say, 
He never sent a child away 

That scarce could walk or run ; 
For when the parent-love besought 
That he would touch the child she brought, 

He bless'd the little one. 

*' And I, a little straying lamb, 
May come to Jesus as I am. 

Though goodness I have none ; 
May now be folded to his breast. 
As birds within the parent's nest. 

And be his little one. 

" And he can do all this for me. 
Because in sorrow on the tree 

He once for sinners hung ; 
And having wash'd their sins away. 
He now rejoices, day by day. 
To cleanse the little ones. 

" Others there are who love me too. 
But who with all their love can do 
What Jesus Christ hast done ? 



440 LITTLE FOLKS TALKING ABOUT JESUS. 

Then if he teaches me to pray, 
I'll surely go to him and say, 
Lord, bless thy little one. 

" Thus, by this gracious Shepherd fed, 
And by his mercy gently led 
Whe^e living waters run, 
I My greatest pleasure will be this. 

That I'm a little lamb of his. 
Who loves the little one." 



LITTLE FOLKS AND THE BIBLE. 

" Little children, love the Lord, 
Love to read his precious word ; 
Study it from day to day. 
Practise it in work or play. 

" When the morning ends your sleep. 
When the evening shadows creep, 
When the sun at noon is high. 

Read his word — to him draw nigh. 

" Thus obeying, loving God, 

Thus desiring, seeking good ; 
Will your peaceful life be pass'd. 
And exchanged for heaven at last !" 



" The fear of the Lord prolongeth days : but the yeai-s 
of the wicked shall be shortened." Frov, x. 27. 



441 




LOVmG THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

The love of children is a sentiment that lies snug and 
genial away down in the better depths of the souls of us 
all. It is au' impulse that does honor to the nature that 
feels it most. It is only now and then there is a being, 
contracted and shrivelled, who can repel the little ones, and 
turn his back upon their bright childish winsomeness. One 
of the richest relishes with which God has blessed the 

19-^ 



442 LOVING THE LITTLE FOLKS. 

earth, one of the purest joys that flits about the passing 
pilgrim here, is the relish and joy which the presence of 
these dear immortals flings over the haunts and hearts of 
men. The world is so much lighter for their being here. 

It is sweet to have them love us. It is sweet to know 
that they delight to nestle upon our bosoms, and that their 
little arms long to clasp about our necks. It is siceet to 
feel the soft clinsjino' tendrils of their honest hearts inter- 
twining, cosily and trustingly, in among the stouter and 
chillier tendrils of our own. The cold selfishness of the 
world is in other hearts than the children's. The deception 
that lames our faith and saps our trust is in other bosoms 
than theirs. God bless the children, the rosy, laughing 
children, the dear, true-hearted children, the beautiful 
children ! The world is ten times brighter for their being 
here. 



PARENTS, TEACH THE LOYE OF JESUS TO YOUR 
LITTLE ONES. 

A LITTLE child sat quietly upon its mother's lap. Its soft 
blue eyes were looking earnestly into her face, which was 
beaming with love and tenderness. The maternal lips were 
busy with the story of the Cross. The tones of her voice 
w^ere low and serious, for the tale was one of mingled sad- 
ness and joy. The listening babe caught every sound. 
The crimson deepened on its little cheek as the story went 
on increasing in interest. Tears gathered in its eyes, and 
a low sob broke the stillness. The child inquired, 

" Did he die for me, mamma — and may I love him al- 
ways, and dearly, too ?" 

" Yes, my darling ; it was to win your love that he left 
his bright and beautiful home." 



443 
GEMS FOR LITTLE FOLKS. 

1. Keep a list of your friends ; and let God be first on 
the list, however long it may be. 

2. Keep a list of the gifts you get ; and let Christ, who 
is the unspeakable gift, be first. 

3. Keep a list of your mercies ; and let pardon and life 
stand at the head. 

4. Keep a list of your joys ; and let joy unspeakable and 
full of glory be first. 

5. Keep a list of your hoj)es ; and let the hope of heaven 
be foremost. 

6. Keep a list of your sorrows ; and let sorrow for sin be 
first. 

7. Keep a list of your enemies ; and however many they 
may be, put down the " old man " and the " old serpent" 
first. 

8. Keep a list of your sins ; and let the sin of unbelief 
be set as first and worst of all. 

9. Be careful of your good name, for " it is better than 
precious ointment," " rather to be chosen than great riches." 
Prov. xxii. 1. 

" Stand on the right, and with clean hands, 
Exalt the truth on high ; 
Thou'lt find warm, sympathizing hearts, 
Among the passers by. 

" Stand for the right ; proclaim it loud ; 
Thou'lt find an answering tone 
In honest hearts, and thou no more 
Be doom'd to stand alone !" 



444 




GIVING ALMS? WHAT ELSE CAN IT BE? 



BEAUTIFTIL r WHAT MORE 



This little girl has, doubtless, been early taught "to re- 
member the poor," " rejoice with them that do rejoice, and 
weep with them that weep ;" " that it is more blessed to 
give than to receive." " Blessed is he that considereth the 
poor." 

" Give, and it shall be given unto you : good measure, 
pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall 
men give into your bosom. For with the same measure 
that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again." 



GIVING ALMS? 445 

" Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, 
when it is in the j^ower of thy hand to do it." Prov. iii. 27. 

" 'Twas the widow's mite which call'd 
Blessings from the Lord ; 
Not the lavish treasures thrown 
From the rich man's hoard." 

Little folks, are you on the giving order ? First of all, 
have you given all to Jesus, presented your bodies living- 
sacrifices to God, which is your reasonable service ? 

It is only by commencing early in life the consecration 
of ourselves, our substance to God, that we can establish 
the habit of benevolence. While we postpone the dis- 
charge of our duty until we have become wealthy, the love 
of gain is insensibly acquiring strength, we listen to the 
claims of benevolence with less and less sensibility, and at 
last become deaf to the voice of humanity. When we are 
able to give without the smallest self-denial, the disposition 
to give has perished, and we have been transformed into 
the very misers whom once we thoroughly despised. 



CHAEITY. 

" While thou hast a heart to feel 
Sympathy and love. 
And thy voice can lift a prayer 
To the Lord above : 

*' Say not thou hast nought to give- 
Nought to call thine own : 
Life's best pleasures do not spring 
From one source alone." 



446 




JESUS AKD ZACCHEUS. 

Look at this, young readers. See that man up in the 
tree ? What is he there for — to see Jesus as he passes by ? 
That's it. This same Zaccheus, the tax-gatherer (Luke, xix. 
1-10) had heard of Jesus, what great, blessed, and glorious 
things he had done in saving sinners, the very worst kind, 
even those possessed with devils. And somehow, we can't 
tell how, the Holy Spirit got hold of him ; so much so, that 
he began to think it time to mend his ways, forsake his sins, 
and turn to the Lord. And to whom could he go for sal- 
vation but Jesus ? " None but Jesus can do helpless sin- 
ners good." And up he goes into that tree, where you see 
him, waiting for Jesus to pass that way. Little readers, 
did not Jesus know who Zaccheus waSj and what he was 
thinking about, long before he came to the tree ? Who 
doubts it ? In like manner he knows where you are and 
what are your thoughts. Oh that your thoughts, like those 
of Zaccheus, might be about Jesus, and the salvation of 
your souls. " And when Jesus came to the place, he looked 
up and saw him and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste 



JESUS AND ZACCHEUS. 447 

and come down, for to-day I must abide at thy house. 
And he made haste and came down, and received him 
joyfully ! And Zaccheus stood and said unto the Lord : 
Behold, Lord ! the half of my goods I give to the poor ; 
and if I have taken anything from any man by false ac- 
cusation, I restore him four-fold." JLuke, xix. 5-8. 

Ain't this beautiful ! majestic ! little folks ? See what 
the religion of the Bible does for poor sinners when it takes 
full possession of the heart ; it makes people honest. A re- 
ligion that don't make restitution when called for, pay all 
just dues, is not of the gospel of Christ. " To do justice and 
judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." 

*' He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also 
in much ; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also 
in much." 

The first thing Zaccheus did after his soul caught the 
heavenly flame, was to make restitution, wash his hands 
clean from injustice, all wrong-doing. 



" Godliness with contentment is great gain ; for we 
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can 
carry nothing out ; and having food and raiment, let us be 
therewith content. But they that will be rich, fall into 
temptation, and a snare' and into many foolish and hurtful 
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." 



" Trust in the Lord with all thy heart ; and lean not un- 
to thine own understanding. 

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
thy paths." Prov. iii. 5, 6. 



448 




SEE THIS WOMAK OK A BED OF LAKGUISHMENT 
NIGH UNTO DEATH. 

What for ? What the first cause— sin ? Had not sm 
entered, there would have been no sickness, no pain, no 
death. 



THE SICK WOMAX NIGH UNTG DEATH. 449 

" O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy 
victory ? The sting of death is sin ; and the strength of 
sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the 
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Cor. xv. 55-57. 

Are you sick, little reader or great reader ? What do 
you do first of all — hasten to the Great Physician, the 
Healer of all healers, Jesus, who, while on earth, went 
about doing good, healing all manner of diseases of spirit, 
soul, and body ? Do you examine the Scriptures, turn 
over the big Book from Genesis to Revelation, and see 
what wonders have been wrought for sick folks ? Were 
we to mention all the healing mercies recorded in the 
Bible, it would more than fill our book, " Apples of Gold 
in Pictures of Silver." Suffer us merely to glance at a few 
of them. 

After turning over the writings of Moses and the holy 
prophets, one by one, take the Psalms. David, the writer 
of these, was often sick nigh unto death. What did he do 
— go to God ? Read the 6th Psalm ; then turn to the 24th, 
38th, 88th, and 91st. 

Mark especially what David says in Psalm xli. 3 ; also 
in Psalm ciii. 3. " Who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who 
healeth all thy diseases." We see here that King David 
would take every ailment, all his diseases to the Lord, with 
the assurance of help. Fail not to glance at Psalm xci., ex- 
amine it carefully, prayerfully. 

Come, now, to the New Testament, and see what Jesus 
and his apostles did for sick folks. Begin at Matthew, iv. 
23, 24. Take' the leper's case, recorded in chapter viii. 
2, 3. Then the servant of the centurion in the same chap- 
ter; and Peter's wife's mother, sick of a fever, verses 14 and 
15. Also, in looking at verses 16, 17, and 18 of this same 
chapter of Matthew, you will see how Jesus cast out evil 



450 THE SICK .WOMAN NIGH UNTO DEATH. 

spirits and healed all that were sick, as it says, " Himself 
took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Go on to the 
9th of Matthew, and see how Jesus cured the man sick of 
the palsy, and the woman diseased twelve years with an 
issue of blood, having spent all her substance on physicians 
of no value. In this same 9th chapter you will see how 
Jesus raised the ruler's daughter who was dead, and opened 
the eyes of two blind men that followed him, crying, " Thou 
son of David, have mercy on us." Then it says, in verse 35, 
" He went about . . . healing every sickness, every 
disease among the people." Had we space, we could go 
on and on, through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, show- 
ing, clear as the noonday sun, what Jesus did for sick 
folks. 

Furthermore, did any little folks or big folks go to Jesus 
for healing and return disappointed ? Were any turned 
away empty ? Look and see ; examine for yourselves. 
Then turn to the apostles. Did not Jesus give them the 
same power to heal folks that were sick ? If possible, they 
did things even more marvellous than did the Lord of glory 
himself 

Turn to Acts, v. 15. Here you see that even the shadow 
of Peter in the streets was efficacious in healing multitudes 
passing by. 

The same glorious things were wrought by Paul, as re- 
corded in Acts, xix. 12 : " So that from his body were 
brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the 
diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out 
of them." 

In conclusion, we ask, have we now any encouragement 
to look to Jesus for healing our sick bodies ? Anything 
tangible on which to build our faith for bodily health as 
well as for spiritual ? Is not Jesus Christ the same yester- 



THE SICK WOMAN NIGH UNTO DEATH. 451 

day, to-day, and forever ? Hear what he says in Mark, xvi. 
17, 18: " And these signs shall follow them that believe: 
in my name shall they east out devils ; they shall speak 
with new tongues ; they shall take np serpents ; and if 
they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them ; they 
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." 

Notice, likewise, what is said in James, v. 14-16: "Is 
any sick among you ? Let him call for the elders of the 
church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him with 
oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall 
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he 
have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess 
your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that 
ye may be healed". The effectual fervent prayer of a 
righteous man availeth much." " According to your faith 
be it unto you." 

Resort to medical aid ? To be sure ; if you have not 
faith to look to Jesus alone, the Great Physician. But 
remember, all means used are unavailable without his 
blessing. 

Go to Jesus for health of body while indulging in sin, 
living in open violation of the laws of your being ? Ask 
for health to consume upon lust, appetite, pride, or covet- 
ousness ? " If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will- 
not hear me." 

God was displeased with King Asa, because in his disease 
he sought not unto the Lord, but to physicians. (2 Chron. 
xvi. 12.) 
' Sick one, look to Jesus ; say to him, 

" Saviour, oh, come to save ! 
Speak but the word— thy servant shall be whole. 
Turn, Lord, and look on me : quicken my soul, 

Out of this living grave." 



452 

SHE SUNG HERSELF AWAY. 

While talking witli a n'eighbor, I heard a sweet, plaint- 
ive voice singing that beautiful hymn, 

" Jesus, lover of my soul !" 

The child was up stairs ; I knew it was a child's voice, 
from its silvery softness. I listened for a while, and then 
said : 

" That child has a sweet voice." 

"Yes, she has," returned my friend. "She is always 
singing." 

I passed that way again. Summer was here in her ful- 
ness, strewing the earth with flowers, and the sky with 
stars. The same sweet voice was thrilling on the air, 

" oil, had I the wings of a dove, I would fly !" 

This time the little singer was in the garden. I gazed 
upon the spiritual softness of her features, the sweet eyes 
like " brown-birds flying in the light," the fine, expressive 
lips, the dark silken curls ; I felt that she would soon have 
her wish answered, and find a refuge in heaven. 

Autumn came ; the wild swan was turning toward the 
south ; the leaves were dropping from the trees, and sj)ears 
of frost glittered among the grass. 

A strip of crape fluttered from the shutter of the house 
where my little singer lived. By the great white throne, 
by the river of eternal gladness, she was striking her gold- 
en harp, and singing, in the fulness of imperishable glory, 

" She came to smile and blush awhile, 
Like lovely flowers in May ; 
To win each heart with guileless art, 
And then to pass away !" 



453 



iii^^m^Ai 




DYING FOLKS, OR FOLKS THAT DIE. 

" Be faithful unto death, and 1 will give thee a avvon of life.'" Eev. ii. 10. 

Little readers, are you ready for the grim monster? 
Death is sometimes called " The king of terrors." " The 
sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." 
1 Cor. XV. 25, 26. " It is appointed unto man once to die, 
but after this the judgment." Heh. ix. 27. 

What of the judgment ? Hark ! " For God shall bring 
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether 
it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. xii. 14. 

To die is a solemn thing — to the wicked, terrible, awfully 
fearful! And little folks die as certainly as big folks. 
Look into our cemeteries ; any little graves there ? Go 
and see! "Be* ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye 
think not, the Son of man coraeth." 

Inquire of some little folks and of some great folks, " Are 



454 DYIXG FOLKS. 

you Christians, disciples of Jesus, born of the Holy Spirit, 
living the life of Christ, prepared for death, judgment, and 
eternity ?" What is the response ? " We hope so !" It's a 
"Ao/9e so " religion. On what is this hope founded — Jesus 
the Lamb of God, the Rock of ages, the atoning sacrifice ? 
Are the hearts of these " hope so " folks sprinkled from an 
evil conscience, and their bodies washed in pure water ? 
Are they holding fast the profession of their faith without 
wavering, having their consciences purged from dead works, 
to serve the living God ? Is Christ in them the hope of 
glory — else what avail their " hope so's ?" " The hypo- 
crite's hope shall perish, whose hope shall be cut off, and 
whose trust shall be as a spider's web." tTob, viii. 14. Look 
out for your hope, little friends and big friends ; see whether 
or not it will stand the test, the day of fire ! Think of the 
foolish virgins that had lamps but no oil in them. Matt. 
XXV, 1-11. Of the many that will say in that fearful day, 
" Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in 
thy name have cast out devils ? and in thy name done many 
wonderful works ? And then will I profess unto them, I 
never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." 
Matt. vii. 22, 23. 

Finally, let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : 
" Fear God, and keep his commandments ; for this is the 
whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into 
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or 
whether it be evil." JEJccl. xii. 13, 14. "Rejoice, O young 
man, in thy youth ; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days 
of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in 
the sight of thine eyes ; but Tcnoic thou, that for all these 
things God loill bring thee into judgment!''^ Eccl. xi. 9. 



455 




FIRE! FIRE! THE WORLD OK FIRE I! 

Do you see it, friends, young and old? Volcanic fires 
are now heaving, shaking the earth, bursting forth ! Ge- 
ologists tell us the interior of the earth is a vast body of 
fiery matter, and that one hundred miles below us is in a 
melted state. How easy, then, should God give permis- 
sion, for this vast internal fiery ocean to break through its 
envelope, and so to bury the solid crust that it shall all be 
burned up and melted ! It is conceivable that such a result 
might take jDlace, even by natural operations. And cer- 
tainly it would be easy for a special divine agency to ac- 
'complish it. 

Herculaneum and Pompeii once existed as thriving cities. 
But their deeds of iniquity became too great for God's jus- 
tice to sufier longer to go unpunished. And in the mighty 
volcano lay hidden his wrath, which descended upon them. 



456 FIEE ! FIFvE ! THE WORLD OX FIRE ! I 

sinking them to destruction beneath a rolling billow of red- 
hot lava and clouds of sulphurous ashes, from mortal eye. 

In the old world, " that then was," men were wicked, 
and God purposed to destroy them by water. He warned 
them by ^N'oah of the coming flood ; but they believed not, 
and mocked on. There never having been a flood, they 
would not believe there would ever be one. But it came, 
and they saw and believed — but too late. God says he 
will destroy this " world that now is" by fire. 

" The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night ; 
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great 
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the 
earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned 
up." 

" The heavens and the earth which are now^ by the same 
word are kept in store reserved unto fire, against the day 
of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Pet. iii. 7. 

" The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, 
for when they (^. e., the inhabitants of this world) shall say 
peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon 
them, as travail upon a woman with child, and tliey shall 
not escape.'''' 1 Thess. v. 2, 3. 

" For as in the day of Noe, even s hall also the coming 
of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before 
the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and 
giving in marriage, until the day that ISToe entered into the 
ark, and knew not, until the flood came and took them all 
away ; so shall also the coming of the Son of man Je." 
3Iatt. xxiv. 37-39. 

" Because he (God) hath appointed a day in the which he 
will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he 
hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men, 
in that he hath raised him from the dead." Acts^ xvii. 3 J. 



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